


Blue Butterfly

by Franks22



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hero Kagami, M/M, Physical Abuse, Slow Build, Violence, Vulnerable Kuroko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-10 07:53:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 48,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4383515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Franks22/pseuds/Franks22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grief affects everyone differently, he knew that. </p><p>What he didn't realise was that it could completely change a persons entire personality. </p><p>Someone you once thought you knew inside out could turn into your worst nightmare in the blink of an eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the End.

“See you tomorrow, Kuroko!” Kagami quickly waved at his friend over his shoulder, rushing off in the direction of the nearest train station.

“Yes, see you Kagami-Kun.” Kuroko replied, scooping up his school bag and turning in the direction of his house.

They had just finished their regular routine of Magi Burger after practice following a particularly gruelling training session with their team. Their manager, Riko, had found a new hobby in forcing the boys to do almost impossible interval training to build up their stamina and strength, all in order to help them maintain their position of best team in Japan following their recent win at the Winter Cup.

Kuroko was finding it especially taxing, finding himself on the verge of collapsing at the end of the session more often than not lately, and was beyond relieved when he and Kagami finally sat down with their respective milkshake and burgers that afternoon.

He slowly walked the familiar streets of Tokyo, having to swiftly dodge the passer-by’s that appeared unable to see him walking in front of them, though his mind had wandered.

Seirins match against Rakuzan had been the hardest game he had ever played in and he had been forced to use every ounce of strength he had and more in order to assist his team in finally accomplishing their goals. Just thinking of how elated and relieved everyone was when the end buzzer rang was enough to make the pale hairs on his arm stand on end and a small smile spread on his lips. However that didn’t mean that they could now relax. The teams they had played leading up to the final, Shutoku, Too, Kaijo… they were all surely working hard to improve their teams and their individual strengths for the next big tournament, and although his friends on those teams had cheered for and encouraged Kuroko and his team during their final match against Rakuzan, they were all probably desperate to get back on the courts against Seirin and get even after their defeats. And so, as much as everyone at Seirin would love to take a few weeks off to relax and revel in their victory, they’d only be shooting themselves in the foot by taking a break.

His mind was still full of thoughts of basketball when he finally let himself into his house, removing his shoes at the doorway and quietly padding his way into the kitchen at the end of the hall.

The house was strangely quiet today, he thought as he dropped his school bag onto the kitchen counter and took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. Usually his mum would be there ready to bombard him with questions about his day, welcoming him home with a bright smile and probably a snack or two. 

“I’m home,” He called out, hoping to get a response from somewhere in the house, “Mum, are you there?”

He strained his ears, but heard nothing in reply.

Kuroko walked toward the stairs, poking his head into the living room as he went.

“Mum?” He called, straining his neck round the doorway, looking around the room after being greeted by silence once again.

Furrowing his brow slightly, he made his way upstairs and checked his parents’ bedroom only to find it empty.

Strange, he was sure his mother hadn’t mentioned anything about going out tonight and it wasn’t very often at all that she would leave before Kuroko had gotten home.

He shrugged slightly and returned to the kitchen, quietly closing his parents’ door behind him.

Once back in the kitchen, he rooted through his school bag for his mobile phone, having decided to give her a call just to double check where she was. He was swiftly greeted by his mother’s bright voice as her voicemail clicked on, Sorry! I’m busy at the minute, but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you just as soon as I can! He swiftly ended the call without leaving a message, and then sent her a quick text, surely it was nothing to worry about. His mum did have a tendency to be a little absent-minded sometimes, she had obviously just forgotten to leave him a note….ah, a note!

Kuroko quickly padded over to the families notice board and saw a small envelope with both his and his father’s names written on with his mother’s familiar scrawl, tacked over the top of the various bills, photographs and reminders that littered the board.

Frowning slightly, he leant up and removed the envelope. It felt quite padded, as if it had a few pages inside. He turned the envelope over, opened it up and removed the paper whilst slowly walking towards a stool at the kitchen counter. He stopped short of the stool, though, when he saw what was written.

_My dearest Kotetsu & Tetsuya, _

_I’m so very sorry that I have chosen to burden you both with such sad news in the form of a letter, but I doubt that I would have the strength or conviction to go through with this if I were to stand in front of you both and try to explain in person._

_It’s with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that I’m leaving._

_I recently met with a man and he makes me so incredibly happy. We have decided that we want to try to be together properly, and have a fresh start somewhere new. By the time you read this, we will already be well on our way to our new home._

_Although I have met someone else, Kotetsu please, please understand, I do love you so very much, but sadly it just isn’t enough. My new partner has been there for me in times when you haven’t Kotetsu, and although I know it isn’t entirely your fault, and you work so very hard in order to give both Tetsu and myself a bountiful life, I need more. I need someone that comes home early, someone that doesn’t spend his weekends holed up in his study working all hours under the sun, I need someone that is going to be there for me both physically and emotionally and sadly, you simply cannot give that to me._

_Trust me when I say, I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I undoubtedly already have, but I must do this, for both your sake and my own._

_I am leaving Tetsuya with you. Although it desperately pains me to not have him living with me and the thought of leaving him behind breaks my heart, I think that it will be beneficial for you both to be there for each other when I am not._

_Please boys, please understand. I love you both, and I hope that one day, when all the wounds are healed, we can see each other again._

_I’m sorry, I’m sorry._

_I’ll always be thinking of you both,_

_All my love,_

_Yasumi_

Kuroko stood stock still, though his knees felt like they were almost threatening to give way beneath him. His hand, which was shaking, clutched the paper tightly.

What, just what did this mean? Another man? Leaving? Surely not. His mother was always happy, always smiling. Sure, his parents sometimes fought when dad had to go away for business, or when he was spending a particularly long time at work, but everyone did, it wasn’t uncommon to have extraordinarily long working hours in Japan. He couldn’t help it.

Another man? Just, what, when exactly? Kuroko racked his brain, trying to think, to see if he could remember seeing any clues of his mother’s impending departure, but he couldn’t. Despite his talent for observing people, he missed something so important, right in front of his own eyes. Knowing that hurt almost as much as his mother’s absence. If he had noticed sooner, could he have tried to help save his parents’ marriage? He could have tried to spend more time with his mother, maybe then she wouldn’t have felt so lonely, but then, she had always encouraged Kuroko to keep at his basketball, she knew how much he loved it. Obviously she wanted her sons’ happiness more than her own for a long time, but could no longer stand the loneliness she got in return.

At that thought, Kuroko’s stomach twisted and squirmed uneasily and tears sprung to his eyes. _Selfish, I’ve been so, so selfish, only thinking about myself, about getting better and better at basketball. All the while, mums been so sad. Why was I so clueless?_

He turned and swiftly ran back up to his parents’ bedroom taking two steps at a time though his legs were like jelly beneath him, still tightly gripping his mother’s letter in his pale fist, he had to check, he had to be sure. Her things will still be there, maybe it was just a really poor joke. It had to be. Throwing his parents door open, and striding across the room, he opened up their wardrobe. 

All of his mother’s clothes, her bags and shoes, it was all gone.

Ah, so she really is gone then. She’s left me and dad.

Dad.

How was he going to explain to his father that they’d been abandoned by her? Although they sometimes bickered and didn’t get to spend as much time together as what they perhaps should, Kuroko could tell that his father was still madly in love with his mother. The first thing he would do after coming home would be to give her a kiss. Kuroko could see it on his father’s face every time he looked at her, he really, truly loved her.

It’s going to break him.

Kuroko sighed, his breathing hitching up slightly from the sobs he was trying his hardest to keep at bay. Still shaking and with damp eyes, he returned to the kitchen for the third time. Sitting himself down in his usual spot at their table. He decided that he would have to break the news to his dad himself. He placed his mother’s letter on the table in front of him, smoothing down the edges that he had scrunched in his tight grip. He took note that some of the words were now smeared and smudged from the few tears that had managed to escape him, scrunching his face slightly at the tingling in his nose, he slowly brought his forehead down to meet the table.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting like that at the kitchen table, eyes staring almost unblinkingly at the now scruffy note carefully laid in front of him, hours probably judging by the darkness of the sky outside the window, when he finally heard his father’s keys rattling in the front door as he opened it.

“Yasumi, I’m home,” He called cheerfully once the door was closed safely behind him, and Kuroko could hear him shuffling around, taking his shoes off and dropping his briefcase next to the door, his keys lightly jingling as he put them on the side table.

Kuroko braced himself slightly, preparing himself mentally for the terrible news he was about to give him father, then got up from his seat and walked towards the hallway, his body feeling heavier and heavier with each agonising step. His father looked up smiling as Kuroko entered.

“W-welcome back,” Kuroko stuttered as he gave his father their usual evening greeting, the corners of his mouth unable to form even the smallest of smiles for him. His stomach seemed to be trying to force its way up his throat, his palms and forehead were becoming slick with sweat.

“Hey Tetsuya, I’m home. Where’s your mothe…” He stopped mid-sentence, seeing the grim expression on his young sons face. He straightened up and started walking towards Kuroko, arms outstretched and ready to give comfort to him, “What is it Tetsu, what’s wrong?”

“Dad, can you please sit down for a moment? I’ve got something to tell you.”


	2. Bad News.

“Dad, I’ve got something to tell you.”

His father looked at him quizzically, but followed him into the lounge without further complaint or comment. His father settled himself into his favourite armchair and Kuroko perched himself on the edge of the sofa. When they were both settled Kuroko, looking more uneasy with each passing moment, cleared his throat,

“Come on then Tetsu, what’s up?” His father was trying to keep a light tone to his voice, but his eyes were gazing at Kuroko with intense worry. Kuroko had never looked this shaken before, not even when he had had those issues with his basketball friends in middle school, it was unnerving.

“Ah, well, erm,” Colour was spreading across Kuroko’s cheeks and his hands were visibly shaking as he tried to form the words.

“Calm down, son. You’re worrying me now,” His dad said, leaning over to lightly pat his son on the knee, “just take a deep breath and tell me, I won’t be angry, whatever it is that you need to say.”

Kuroko closed his eyes tightly, squeezed his hands together to try to stop the tremors and finally took a deep breath, “It’s mum.”

As soon as Kuroko said that, his father got up out of his armchair and quickly sat next to Kuroko, panic on his face. “What, what is it? What’s wrong with her?”

Kuroko turned his gaze to the floor, not wanting to see the broken expression that would soon be spreading across his father’s face. “She’s gone, dad. She’s left us.“

“What? Don’t be ridiculous Tetsu,” He father said lightly, though the grip his hand had on Kuroko’s knee was so tight his distress was obvious. “What would make you say something like that?”

Kuroko shakily got to his feet and retrieved the letter from kitchen. He hadn’t wanted his father to have to read this, but it was probably the only way of getting him to believe Kuroko.

Noticing the crumpled letter in Kuroko’s hand as he returned to the room, his father got up, hand outstretched ready to take it. Kuroko passed it to him silently and stood watching him read it.

His father’s eyes darted across the page, devouring the words his wife had written. His brow furrowing further with every line he completed. The shakes that Kuroko had had for the last few hours had now been passed to his father, who was almost struggling to keep the paper steady enough to read it.

He soon reached the end of the letter and quickly flipped the page over, probably hoping to find a note on the back saying that it was a joke. He fell back onto the sofa and brought his hands up to cup his face.

“Shit,” he said quietly, “shit, shit.” His voiced broke and he choked out a quick bark-like sob and Kuroko could already see the stain of tears collecting on his father’s work trousers. He tentatively walked towards his father, desperately wanting to take away some of the pain but knowing full well that he might make things worse. What does a child know about comforting an adult, especially one who had been given such terrible news?

Kuroko lightly placed a pale hand on his father’s arm, who faintly jumped at the contact before pulling him into a full hug, taking him by surprise. Although he was close to his dad, he wasn’t used to such bodily contact with him, it was usually his mum that showered him with hugs and kisses.

“I’m sorry dad,” He whispered while wrapping his arms around the seniors back, his voice cracking slightly due to the burning in his throat, “I’m so sorry.”

They stayed in that position for quite a while, tightly holding each other as if to stop themselves from falling apart, soft sobs mixed with quiet apologies until both of them had cried themselves dry. 

Eventually, they broke apart. Kuroko looked up at his dad.

“Well, after all that, I’m pretty worn out,” he said with a watery smile, “I think it’s time we both head off to bed.”

“But, aren’t you hungry?” Although eating was the last thing on his mind, he didn’t want his father to go to sleep on an empty stomach, it would only make him feel worse than he already did. “I can make something for you, I’m sure there are some leftovers from last night in the fridge?”

His father shook his head slightly,

“I’m fine Tetsu really, I think I just need some sleep.” He slowly got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck slightly where it had cramped from the awkward position they had been sitting. “I’ll be fine tomorrow.” He said in a tone that made Kuroko question who the words were intended for.

“Ok, dad.” He said, not wanting to press the issue any further. He’d be sure to wake up early the next day and make him a big breakfast full of his favourite foods to make up for the missed meal this evening. His stomach dropped slightly when he realised that usually they’d both be greeted by his mother in the mornings, humming away in the kitchen whilst making their morning meal. 

They both got up and walked towards their bedrooms, quickly saying their goodnights before separating. Kuroko saw the flash of paper as his dad closed his door. He’d taken his mother’s letter with him and would probably spend the night reading and rereading her words.

Kuroko sighed, it had been a very long evening. He felt drained both emotionally and physically and was desperate to get into bed. Desperate to forget what had happened, even if only for a little while.

He got himself ready and sluggishly crawled under his sheets, pulling his legs up to his chest, making himself as small as possible, before closing his eyes.

Quietly listening to the occasional cry and rustle of paper from the bedroom next door, Kuroko fell into a restless sleep.


	3. New Faces.

Kuroko woke up early the next day, the sun having barely risen as he got out of bed.

He quietly got dressed, not wanting to wake his father up any earlier than was absolutely necessary.

He went down to the kitchen, intending to make a large, filling meal for his dad when he noticed a note on the table from his dad.

_Morning Tetsu,_

_I woke up pretty early this morning so decided to go to work, I’ve got a couple of things I need to get done._

_I’ll see you tonight._

_Dad_

Kuroko let out an agitated huff, quickly checking the sink and seeing it empty of any dishes. His father had left without eating, and he hadn’t taken anything for lunch either.

 _Right,_ Kuroko thought to himself, _I’ll just have to make a filling dinner tonight then._

He set about making himself a simple breakfast. It could be probably be seen as slightly hypocritical, his want and need to force his dad into eating a large meal when he could barely stomach the smallest bowl of leftover miso and rice himself, but he felt that he had to do something, anything, to help his dad. Even if that meant doing everything that his mum used to do before she left. The rice he had been chewing quickly turned to sawdust in his mouth at the mere thought of his mother, but he persevered through, trying to at least get one bowl down him before going to school.

Before leaving the house, he checked the contents of the fridge. He’d have to go shopping on the way home to get some ingredients for their meal.

He picked up his school bag, still on the floor where he’d dropped it the previous evening, and made his way out the house and to school.

 _Thank God I’m so good at being invisible,_ he thought, _at least no one will notice how tired I look._

That wasn’t the case though. The usually oblivious Kagami was the first to notice.

“Woah Kuroko, what happened to you? You’re even more pale than usual.” He said as soon as he noticed Kuroko sitting behind him in their classroom.

“Nothing, Kagami-kun, I just didn’t get much sleep last night that’s all.” He quietly said in reply. He didn’t want to burden his friend with the events of the previous evening, he’d keep quiet about it for as long as needed.

Kagami shrugged slightly.

“Well, ok. I hope it doesn’t affect your passes at practice tonight though!” he said before turning back around in his seat, the teacher had just walked in and was about to begin the lesson.

The day seemed to go by in a blur and Kuroko found himself struggling to keep up with its pace, his head still slightly cloudy due to his lack of sleep the previous night.

In his daze, he often found his mind wander and he would inevitably find himself thinking about his mother. In her letter she had said that they would probably be in their new house by the time Kuroko and his father had even read the letter. He wondered where their new house could be. He guessed that they’d have gone far enough so that the chance of them bumping into each other down the street wasn’t likely, but had they gone really far away? As far as Nagasaki or Akita? Had they gone north or south? His mum had never been a fan of the cold weather, so south was probably more likely, Kyoto maybe? But then again, maybe her boyfriend had somewhere he wanted to live.

Kuroko’s chest squeezed slightly at that thought, boyfriend. How ridiculous, his mother shouldn’t have a boyfriend. She had a husband. A son. Both waiting at home for her, both missing her so very much.

He didn’t know whether to be angry or sad. He was a mixture of both, sad that his mother had left them alone, but angry that she had deserted them. Angry at the man that had stolen away, and angry at him and his father for letting her be taken.

His feelings switched and changed and merged to the point that he felt a constant ache in his stomach, as if a stone had been put there.

Before he knew it, the entire day had passed and he was in the changing rooms with Kagami.

“Hey Kuroko, you coming to Magi for some food?” Kagami asked him as he finished getting dressed following another rigorous practice.

“I’m sorry, Kagami-kun, I’ve got to get home early today.” He said, quickly picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Ah, no worries. Maybe next time then.” Kagami said, following Kuroko to the school entrance.

They walked together until they reached Magi Burger, Kagami waved him off and went inside to order his usual pile of burgers. Kuroko carried on his way to the convenience store nearest to his house.

He quickly grabbed everything he needed out of the store and went home to prepare it. His father would probably be home in a few hours and he wanted everything to be ready when he came in.

He was just finishing off the main dish when his father came in the door. Kuroko put down the knife he was holding and walked to the hallway,

“Welcome home, Dad. Dinner is nearly ready, so quickly go and change and we can eat.” He said as soon as he stepped into view of his father. He didn’t want to give him a chance to sneak upstairs without eating anything again.

“Ah, Tetsu, I’m home. Sounds good to me, I can smell the food from here.” He said, smiling slightly, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes like it usually would. “I’ll just be a couple of minutes.”

His father went up to his bedroom to change, and Kuroko returned to the kitchen to plate up their dishes.

He was just setting the food down on the table when his dad came into the kitchen, plopping himself down in his usual seat.

“Wow, son. This looks great, but you didn’t really need to go to all this trouble, you know? I’d have been find with a ready-made bento or something.” He said as Kuroko sat down next to him.

“Its fine, I wanted to do it.” Kuroko said quietly in return.

“Well, thanks for the food.” His father said, grabbing his chopsticks and a bowl and bringing it to his lips. “Mmm, I was right, it’s delicious!”

“I’m glad. Thanks for the food.” Kuroko said, mirroring his father and slowly making his way through his dinner.

They sat in silence as they ate. Not quite sure what to talk about, Kuroko decided it was best to let his dad initiate any conversation.

At the end of the meal, his father helped him clear away the dishes and box up the leftovers for lunch the following day. Just before leaving to go up to his bedroom, Kuroko’s father turned to him, lightly grabbing his shoulder,

“That’s a lot for that Tetsu, I really appreciate it.” He gently squeezed his sons shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, don’t stay up too late, ok kiddo?”

“Ok, dad. Goodnight.” Kuroko said in reply, happy that his father enjoyed the food. His father left the room and Kuroko heard him walking up the stairs and going to his bedroom. Kuroko picked up the school bag he had left in the hallway and made his way upstairs. He had quite a lot of homework to catch up on from the previous day, and he really needed to make a proper list of everything he needed to do, now that his mother wasn’t there.

The food he had just eaten did somersaults in his stomach at that thought, but he tried to ignore the nauseating feeling, concentrating on his small pile of homework instead.

The rest of the week seemed to pass quite quickly for Kuroko as he got used to doing more of the chores his mother used to do around the house and he had borrowed a couple of books from the school library so that he could learn some different dishes for his and his father’s meals as they were sure to get bored of his simply dishes pretty soon.

His father however was getting home later and later every evening. Kuroko waited until his father had returned home before eating, but sometimes this meant not eating until past 10 at night. Even when his father was at his busiest, he wouldn’t stay out this late usually. The thought made Kuroko worry, but his father was just coping with his grief in his own way, there was nothing that Kuroko could say to him that’d make him feel any better.

Eventually, a whole week had passed since his mother had left them and it was at around 11 that evening that Kuroko found himself sitting at the desk in his bedroom, reading the same line out of his textbook which he seemed unable to process when he heard the front door slam open with a loud bang!

He heard his father stumble into the hallway, tripping slightly over Kuroko’s school shoes. He swore loudly, roughly kicking them out of the way with a thump as he threw down his briefcase and keys.

Kuroko could hear him struggling to get his own shoes off, grabbing onto the side table for support with enough force to make it rattle and shake. A picture frame slid off the table, the glass noisily shattering on tiled floor of the genkan.

Kuroko got up at the noise and quickly made his way down the stairs towards his dad and saw the smashed frame lying face down on the floor.

“Welcome home, Dad.” He said, reaching out to hold his father’s arm to help him keep steady, he hadn’t seen him this drunk in a very long time, if ever. “Here, let me clean up the glass, it wouldn’t do for you to hurt yourself with it.”

His father jumped slightly at his touch, and tore his arm out of Kuroko’s grasp with a grunt.

“Gerroff me, ‘Tsuya.” He said slurring his words drunkenly, swaying slightly where he stood, one of his shoes in his hand. “’M not an idiot, don’ need your ‘elp.” 

He finally managed to get his other shoe off with one last lurch, and threw them noisily towards the entrance. Kuroko winced slightly at the loud noise they made as they slammed against the doorway. He really needed to get his dad up to bed before he did any further damage to the hallway.

“I’m sorry dad. I’m sure you’re quite tired, would you like to go up to bed? I’ll go and get you some water and a couple of painkillers if you wait for me upstairs.” He asked kindly, trying not to make his father any more irritable.

“Mm, ‘m goin’, ‘m goin’, stop rushin’ me!” He growled as he turned to go towards the stairs and up to his room.

He stumbled slightly on the step out of the genkan and Kuroko quickly grabbed his dads arm to steady him.

His father yanked his arm out of Kuroko’s hand again and swung around quicker than Kuroko thought was possible for a man who had had so much to drink.

Kotetsu’s hand came up, cracking a slap across Kuroko’s pale face.

“I said, get off me.” He huffed, his hand still raised in threat.

Kuroko’s hand shot up to his cheek, his wide eyes watering slightly at the stinging pain. He could feel the skin beneath his palm getting warm from the sudden contact from his father. His face was one of pure astonishment.

“I-I-I’m sorry, Dad.” He quickly gasped out an apology, wanting to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. To calm his father’s anger.

His father grunted to show he had heard him and turned away, going towards the stairs. Before disappearing up them, he looked back over his shoulder to his son, grabbing the handrail for support.

“Stop mollycoddling me, ‘Tsuya. You’re always meddlin’ and faffin’ like some silly woman. Stop it. I don’ wanna see you, stay outta my way, ya hear me?” His voice was like acid as he spat out the words to his son. 

Pain stabbed at Kuroko’s chest and he gasped in surprise. His father had never spoken to him like this before, had never once raised a hand against him either. He hadn’t thought it possible for his kind, happy, loving dad to ever do anything like that, he was still in shock about the whole thing.

“Yes, father.” He quietly replied lowering his gaze away from his dads face. He heard his father’s footsteps leading up the stairs a moment later, which was then followed by the heavy slam of his bedroom door.

Kuroko let out a shaky breath, still slightly dazed, before coming to his senses. He gave his cheek a quick rub, then quietly went to the kitchen to get a dustpan and brush. He tidied up the broken glass and picked up the frame. It was an old photo of himself, his father and his mother. They were in their back garden laughing at something someone off-camera had said, Kuroko could remember the picture being taken. They’d had a party with some of his parents’ friends that day and everyone had stayed until late in the evening, drinking and joking around. His mother and father had been so happy then, but that was before his father had started working longer hours, before it all started to go wrong. Kuroko felt the now familiar sting at the back of his throat and nose but quickly blinked away the tears, placing the frame back in its spot on the side table.

Kuroko took the dustpan and brush and returned them to the kitchen, taking a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and leaving it on the table along with two painkillers for his father to take the following morning. He wasn’t entirely sure his dad would appreciate or even want him to do it, but Kuroko felt that he should. He would probably feel better tomorrow morning, after a proper night’s sleep. It was just the drink talking when he had said those things to Kuroko. It was the alcohol that had made him act like that. That wasn’t his father, he wouldn’t have done that if he had been aware of his actions. He repeated the same things to himself a couple of times, willing for them to be the truth. He then quietly made his way to his bedroom, taking extra care not to make any noise or disturb his dad as he returned to his bedroom.

He sighed slightly and settled himself at his desk when he saw his half-written homework waiting to be finished, though his heavy eyelids were begging for a break.


	4. The Switch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little heavy, so please take note if you're not a fan of violence (sounds weird, surely no one's a fan of violence... but you know what I mean, graphic violence!). This is probably the worst it's going to get, so if you're not put off by it then it'll be sure sailing for the remaining chapters. Also, rest assured anyone that wants some KTxKK fluff, there will be some (slightly) nicer bits coming up in the next couple of chapters for you. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thank you very much!

Kuroko awoke the following morning to the sound of soft knocking on his bedroom door. He shot up quickly, remembering the events from the previous evening, panic bubbling up his chest.

“Y-yes?” He said tentatively, untangling himself from his quilt cover.

“Tetsu, sorry to disturb you. Is it alright if I come in?” His father’s voice was quiet, almost child-like. Kuroko could instantly hear the regret in his tone of voice. His chest tightened at the thought of his dad being so ashamed of himself.

“Of course dad, come in.” Kuroko said softly in reply, hoping to reassure his dad that he wasn’t angry, he didn’t blame his father for his actions.  
His dad gently opened the door, standing in the frame, his face full of remorse.

“Tetsu, I’m so sorry.” His voice cracked slightly as he apologised, “I know there’s no excuse, I don’t know what came over me. I promise, I won’t do it again. I promise, Tetsuya.” His voice was pleading, begging for Kuroko to understand.

“I know dad. I understand. Don’t worry about it,” Kuroko gave his dad a reassuring smile. “We’ve both had some pretty rubbish news lately, it’s understandable that we’d be a bit upset at the minute. I don’t blame you at all. It’s ok.”

His father sighed, obviously relieved that his son wasn’t holding a grudge. He felt absolutely terrible for the way he had acted. He’d never have imagined he’d be the type of disgusting father that would raise his hand to his own son. Although Tetsuya had forgiven him, he barely felt he deserved such kindness.

Kuroko could still see the slight doubt on his father’s face

“Really, dad, don’t worry about it. No harm done, ok?” He walked over to his father, his hand coming up to hold his dads arm, to offer comfort. He hesitated unwillingly, his subconscious still remembering the reaction his dad had to his touch the night before.

His father saw the hesitation, creases appearing between his eyebrows as he sadly gazed at his sons’ actions. He quickly brought his own hand up to meet Kuroko’s, giving it a light squeeze. They both smiled sadly at each other. It was then that Kotetsu realised that although his son forgave him readily, he couldn’t necessarily forget the incident. It caused a tight knot to materialise in his chest. He’d crossed a line, he knew that now.

“Erm, I’ll make us some breakfast if you like Dad?” Tetsu asked, trying to diffuse the tension that threatened to build. “Just give me a couple of minutes to get dressed and I’ll be right down ok?”

“That’d be perfect, son.” His father gave one last light squeeze on Kuroko’s arm and left the room. Kuroko heard him going downstairs and then the sound of him putting the kettle on as he quickly got dressed and went to wash his face and teeth.

The next few days passed without further incident. His dad, although coming home later than usual and intoxicated, didn’t make any further move to harm Kuroko. In turn, Kuroko had learnt that it was best to leave his father alone when he’d had a drink, though he had gotten into the habit of leaving a glass of water and some painkillers on his father’s bedside table every evening just in case he needed them. 

However, one night Kuroko woke up suddenly to the sound of smashing glass and thumping in the living room and instantly knew that something was wrong. He jumped up out of bed, his heart hammering in his chest and his legs feeling uncertain beneath him, and ran down the stairs. He stopped in the doorway to the living room and looked at the devastation in front of him. His mother’s ornaments, photographs, wedding china, it had all been pushed off the shelving that ran along the far wall and was lying in a scattered heap on the floor.

Amongst the wreckage stood his father, his shoulders heaving as he took large, uneven breaths. His fists were clenching and unclenching at his side and his feet were kicking and smashing anything that had managed to withstand the sudden upheaval.

“Dad?” Kuroko gasped as he saw the mess, “Dad, what are you doing? Stop it! Leave it alone! Get away from all of that glass!”

Kuroko was shocked, angry, upset. He felt the emotions stirring in him and had the urge to run over to his dad and hurt him, punch and shove him, anything to make him stop. He was destroying all the memories that they had of his mother, all the family portraits, the keepsakes, everything.

He rushed over to his father, as close as he could get without stepping on the glass, and grabbed at his arms.

“STOP IT!” He shouted, desperately trying to drag his father away from the shelving. “There’s no need for you to do this dad, please!”

His dad wheeled around and pulled Kuroko to him. He gripped his sons’ skinny arms and managed to push him down to the floor before Kuroko even knew what was happening. Kuroko felt pieces of glass pierce his arms and legs and he gasped in surprise then cried out.

“Stop! Dad! Please, let me up!” He begged his father, kicking out his legs in a feeble attempt to make contact with his father, anything to get him to loosen the tight grip he had on Kuroko’s arms. “Please, it hurts dad! It hurts! I’m sorry!”

“Shuddup, Tetsu!” His father growl at him. He looked like a wild animal, a rabid fox attacking a defenceless rabbit. “Shut up! Always gettin’ in the way! Always messin’! Your takin’ her side ain’t ya? You’re glad she left me! You wanna leave me too, don’cha?!”

The vice-like grip he had on Kuroko’s arm was tightening still, his hand shaking him slightly, pushing him further into the glass. Kuroko could feel the warm slick of his blood start to trickle down his arms and legs, his breathing coming out in ragged gasps. The shock of what was happening to him evident on his pale face. 

“Please dad, please! Stop! I won’t leave you, I promise I won’t! I’m sorry!” He gasped out before his father raised a fist and sunk it into his stomach.

Kuroko choked out a scream, pain searing his whole body, glass crunching beneath his slight weight.

“Shut up. SHUT UP!” His father yelled, his face going red as he ploughed his fist into his sons stomach once more. “It’s all lies. Nobody wan’s ta stay with me! E’ryone wan’s ta leave me!”

His father was getting close to hysterical. Kuroko tried to push against him, to get from under his weight, but his small frame was no match against his father’s larger one.

Two more blows came in quick succession before his father gave one last shove and drunkenly got to his feet. His whole body was heaving as he breathed. His face one of pure disgust as he looked down at his son quietly sobbing on the floor.

“Be a good boy ‘Tsuya. Be a good boy and clean up the mess, ok son? I’ll forgive you for wanting to leave me if you do that. Ok?” His father sounded so sure of himself, as if what he said made complete sense. Kuroko could hardly take in what he was saying, the pain he felt all over his body too much to comprehend much else. His father turned away from him, swaying on the spot, before disappearing noisily up the stairs.

Kuroko lay on the floor listening to his father’s heavy footsteps overhead, unsure of how to get up without further injuring himself. His arms were raw and bleeding, his stomach queasy and he could already feel a bruise coming out on his upper arm. He was struggling to calm himself down enough to breathe properly, instead just hiccuping and gasping between the slight groans of pain he allowed to escape him despite his efforts to keep as quiet as possible. 

His mind was reeling. It was insane, as if a switch had been flicked in his father’s head, completely taking away any ounce of the caring father he once had, replacing it with the vicious creature that had stood before him. Kuroko was scared, something that caused his heart to clench tightly between its erratic beating in his chest. Could alcohol really do that to a person? Could grief? He’d never seen anyone that angry before. Akashi’s and Aomine’s anger and rages during their time at Teiko, and even during their most recent matches at the Winter Cup, seemed laughable in comparison. It was something that you sometimes saw on television, not in your own living room, not by your own father. It was madness. He was finding it hard to believe it, though the bumps and bruising he had did their best to convince him of the truth. 

After a couple of minutes of laboured pants, he finally managed to even out his breathing. His heartbeat returning to its usual rhythm and his mind clearing. Slowly, slowly, he brought his back up off the floor, wincing as the glass he was sitting on bit at his skin. He brushed enough of the debris away for him to place his hands on the floor and finally pushed himself up.

His whole body protested at the movement and he let out a gasp of surprise at the sudden sharp pains that shot through his stomach and arms. This wasn’t good, he had never felt pain like this before, and he really needed to see the damage properly in the mirror to make sure it wasn’t anything too serious.

Once he was up, he gingerly padded his way across the room, he needed to tidy up the mess in the living room as quickly as possible, in case his father came downstairs again for any reason. He didn’t want to make him angry again. 

He decided it would be easier to clear up the room before checking his injuries, he’d need to do that in the bathroom upstairs and really wanted to avoid having to go past his father’s bedroom more times than absolutely necessary.

He retrieved the dustpan and brush from the kitchen, along with a large waste bag, and began to quietly sweep up the broken glass, shattered china and cracked porcelain. All of his mother’s treasures, all the beautiful keepsakes they had all collected together, now reduced to a pile of debris on the floor. 

He salvaged what he could, thinking that he might be able to repair a couple of items. He collected the pieces and hid them in a cupboard in the kitchen, a place his father wasn’t likely to look for the time being as Kuroko did all of the cooking. However, the vast majority of the fragments left had to be disposed of.

It was a while before he leaned back, his arms and legs, stomach and back all protesting, and did a final check of the room. The shelves that used to be home to so many precious items now stood painfully bare, but thankfully no evidence of their unjust fate remained. He quietly put the brush and pan away and stowed the bag near the front door, ready for him to bin the following morning. 

He then slowly and carefully made his way back to the kitchen, deciding that it was best to take the first aid kit upstairs with him, as judging by the slight red stains on his clothes, and the stinging all over his body, he had a few cuts and grazes to fix once in front of the mirror. 

Gingerly, he made his way up the stairs despite the fierce opposition from his legs, holding his breath as he passed his father’s bedroom, and let himself into the bathroom. He stripped himself down to his boxers before standing in front of the mirror. 

He gasped.

Dark red marks scattered his stomach, some threatening to turn purple, black and blue already. A ring wrapped its way around his upper arm, a slight cut from his father’s wedding ring slicing through the red abrasion. 

He turned his body slightly, looking over his shoulder to see his back in the mirror and winced. 

His usually pale skin now looked deadly white against the dark reds and browns of the blood that had lined his slight body though he was thankful to see that it was all dry, no new lines traced their way down his skin. 

He turned on the hot tap, dampening a wash cloth, and gently wiped away the evidence of his father’s anger. The warmth from the water stung him at first, and he let out several sharp breaths, but soon it felt soothing, his body welcoming the gentle heat and softness of the cloth. 

Once all of the blood had been removed, he gently coated his skin with anti-inflammatory cream, pacifying the angry cuts and scrapes, and sighed in relief. His body didn’t look half as bad with the absence of the blood, though the bruises would probably get worse in the coming days. He was relieved to see that they were mostly on his stomach and chest, places he was easily able to hide. No-one would be likely to see those as long as he took care when changing for basketball practice.

A quick bubble of panic suddenly rose in Kuroko’s throat as he thought about basketball. At the moment, the team were having daily training sessions ahead of their match against Shutoku the following week. He could barely walk up the stairs half an hour earlier and he had absolutely no idea how he would manage a couple of hours of rigorous exercise over the coming days. 

His muscles contracted slightly in warning, almost as if foreboding the pain that they would soon be forced to withstand. There was no way Kuroko could skip practice, he hadn’t done that since his time at Teiko, and anyways, Kagami would never let him get away with it. He played too much of an important role for Seirin, especially when it came to matches against Midorima, where an all-out fast paced point-war was likely to take place.

He would just have to endure it, it would only be for the next couple of days, the bruises would surely be gone before the actual match took place. He would make sure to keep putting the creams on, they might help to lessen the marks ahead of time. 

He hoped that his lack of presence on the court would work in his favour and stop his team mates from noticing any abnormalities with his playing in the meantime, but he would still have to work his hardest to ensure his passing was up to his usual standard, though this would be a challenge even for him with how close he and his teammates were, but the last thing he needed was unwanted attention and questions he didn’t have the answer for.

He shuddered slightly at the thought of what Kagami would say if he saw him in his current condition. He wasn’t the most level-headed of males on any normal day, so seeing a teammate with marks all over his skin would surely go straight to his head. 

He would definitely misunderstand the situation, would want to do something about it, but there was nothing for him to do. Kuroko knew his father was going through a tough time at the minute just like he was and from his words earlier it was obvious he was feeling alone and abandoned. Kuroko needed to work harder to make sure his dad felt loved, to make sure he knew that Kuroko was there for him and always would be. It wasn’t his fault. 

Kagami definitely wouldn’t understand.

Kuroko slowly and lightly pulled his shirt over his head and pulled on a pair of jogging bottoms, his hands still shaking slightly from the adrenaline that had been coursing its way through his body for the last hour or so. He put the creams and wash cloth away, deciding to keep them in his bedroom to stop his father from seeing them the following morning. It would upset him, make him angry at himself again. Then he finally returned to his bedroom. 

He willed himself not to look at the clock on his bedside table as he faintly padded his way to his bed, knowing that he probably only had a few hours at most to sleep before having to get up for school in the morning. He groaned softly at the thought. 

It had been a very long night, one that he hoped he’d never have to experience again. He’d have to be sure to try his hardest to stop his father from feeling the need to drown his sorrows with alcohol again. Make sure he felt needed, wanted and loved. Although Kuroko had the physical marks of pain on his body, his father was surely hurting just as much inside, which can often leave bigger scars than any cut or scrape could. 

Kuroko frowned slightly at the thought of the pain his dad was undoubtedly in, and found himself angry at his mother. He missed her, so very much, but she had absolutely destroyed his dad. It was a hard thing for any child to see, and he was finding it extremely difficult to come to terms with and accept that someone could cause so much pain to another person they love, as his mother claimed she still did. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

His head throbbed, a wave of tiredness crashing over him suddenly, and he lowered himself into bed as quickly as he could, pulling the quilt up to his chin.

He sighed in relief. His whole body relaxed against the soft mattress and his eyes closed, forgetting everything that had happened that evening and succumbing to sleep.


	5. Taking Note.

Blearily opening his eyes, Kuroko reached over to his bedside table and shut off his alarm clock, the shrill ringing still echoing slightly in his head.

He groaned, desperate for a few more hours sleep, but reluctantly pushed off his covers and sat up. 

He ached. His arms, his legs, his whole torso. He felt as if he’d be pulled through a wringer a couple of times and hung on a line to dry. But it would be manageable, it had to be. He didn’t want to worry anyone unnecessarily.

He sighed, it was going to be a long day. 

He quickly coated his wounds with another layer of anti-inflammatory cream and started getting ready, taking extra care not to knock or stretch himself any more than was absolutely necessary, hoping in vain that careful movements would limit the impact the marks would have on him over the next few days. It took him ten minutes longer than usual to get dressed, especially struggling to bend himself over to pull up his socks. 

He padded his way downstairs quietly. He wasn’t entirely sure if his father was still in the house or not as he’d been in such a deep sleep when he alarm had gone off, however he was relieved he’d been mindful of his footsteps when he saw his father’s shoes still slung haphazardly against the front door. 

He continued his quiet journey to the kitchen and quickly put together a light breakfast for himself, his stomach not feeling quite up to the task of his usual traditional Japanese breakfast. He plated up a selection of last night’s leftovers for his father, along with a glass of water and painkillers and left it on the table ready for his dad. Kuroko was sure his father would probably be waking up with a pretty terrible hangover this morning, and was more than likely feeling mortified by what had happened between the two of them.  
Making his father’s breakfast, leaving tablets for him, these were the only things Kuroko could think of doing to show his dad that he forgave him and not to worry, without going upstairs and disturbing him to tell him verbally. It would have to do until he got home from school that evening. 

He collected his school bag, did one last check in the living room to make sure all the mess was tidied, and left the house.

Kuroko managed to make it to school without his aches causing him too much grief, but felt extremely tense as he slowly made his way through the crowds of energetic teenagers that were littering the school grounds. His quick reflexes were helping him to dodge the various elbows and bags that seemed intent on hitting him as he went to his classroom.

Kagami jumped when he heard a loud sigh coming from his usually-quiet classmate as he sat himself down at his desk.

“WHA-! Jesus, Kuroko, seriously! When the hell are you going to stop making me jump every single time you appear outta nowhere? You’re gonna give me a heart attack or something one of these days.” He grumbled as he turned in his seat to look at his best friend. 

Kagami instantly noticed that his friends’ skin was a sickly pale, even more so than usual, and dark bags decorated under his eyes. He looked terrible. He could see Kuroko shifting uncomfortably in his chair, seemingly unable to sit still.

“Couldn’t sleep last night?” He asked. He’d been having trouble drifting off himself lately, the Tokyo summer heat was no laughing matter, that’s for sure. He almost regretted ever moaning about the weather in L.A. 

Kuroko either didn’t hear him, or was choosing not to answer, his eyes were unfocused as he stared out of the window. He looked completely oblivious to everything around him.  
Kagami waved his hand in front of Kurokos face trying to catch his attention.

“Heelloooo, Kuroko? Anyone there?” 

Kuroko jumped slightly, taking in a sudden breath of surprise when he finally noticed Kagami’s hand almost touching his face, and shot an unimpressed glance at him.

“Really, Kagami-kun, I’m not an idiot.” He said, his usual monotone voice giving off a slight hint of irritation. His cheeks flushed slightly.

“Dunno what’s up with you today, completely out of it, aren’t you?” Kagami said, huffing slightly as he turned back round to finish off the large meaty breakfast sandwich he'd brought to school with him. Although he didn’t show it, he was slightly concerned by his friends strange reactions, but then again, Kuroko never had been much of a morning person, even Kagami knew that much from the few overnight training sessions they'd had together with the team. But still, he was used to grumpy morning Kuroko, not barely able to keep his eyes open, exhausted Kuroko. He wondered what he could have been up to the previous evening to make him so tired, but he didn’t bother asking again, he had a feeling he wouldn’t get an answer even if he did.

“I apologise, Kagami-kun. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Kuroko wearily explained from behind, his exhaustion evident.

“Ah, it doesn’t matter, forget it.”

The teacher then walked in and began the lesson, though Kuroko found himself less eager to listen than he usually did. His eyes kept drooping, threatening to close completely several times, and he had a constant dull ache in his side where he knew he had a large bruise forming. The hours seemed to drag by.

Finally, after what felt like several weeks rather than the few short hours it actually was, Kuroko and Kagami made their way to the gym changing rooms, ready to start their nightly training session. Kagami was stuffing another large sandwich into his as they walked. Kuroko shook his head at his friend, his own stomach did uneasy twists just looking at it, he’d barely managed to get a bun down him at lunch. 

The pains in Kuroko’s stomach and on his back had gotten progressively worse throughout the day and he’d had to go to the toilet a few times when he thought he felt the cuts opening up. As they walked closer to the gym, he felt ever more apprehensive about having to do so much rigorous exercise. 

He quickly excused himself when they finally reached their destination, deciding it would be best not to get changed somewhere Kagami was likely to see the marks on his skin. 

When he returned to the locker room, Kagami looked at him confused. 

“Huh, where’d you go, Kuroko?” He asked, grabbing a bottle of water and heading towards the gym. 

“I just needed to use the toilet and thought it’d be quicker to get changed in there, Kagami-kun.” He lied smoothly, following his friend out.

Kagami shrugged and jogged over to pick up a basketball that had been left at the far side of the room, slowly dribbling it back to where Kuroko was stood stretching. 

Kuroko winced slightly as his side cramped. The stretches were making the pain a lot worse, but he knew he’d be regretting it shortly if he skipped the warm up exercises altogether.

Kagami saw his wince and looked at him concerned.

“What’s up with you, Kuroko? You’ve been looking off all day.” Kagami asked. 

“It’s nothing Kagami-kun, I’m just a bit stiff and tired today, that’s all.” He reassured his friend, downplaying the severe pains he now had shooting across his abdomen as he continued. “I’ll be fine once I’ve stretched properly.”

“Mmm, ok. Give me a shout if you want me to help you, right?” Kagami quickly broke into a run, the ball almost a blur against him. He jumped up, smashing it easily into the basket, smiling as he landed with a thud.

“Don’t get too cocky, Bakagami.” Hyuga had just entered the gym, Kiyoshi and Riko coming up behind him, “Anyone can score when there’s no one blocking the hoop!”

Kagami pulled a face at him, but didn’t say anything in reply, it wouldn’t be worth it getting into an argument with their captain. Kiyoshi chuckled, coming to a stop next to Kuroko and joining him with his stretches.

“Nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, right Kuroko?” He turned to Kuroko, patting him on the back, a smile spreading across his face. 

Kuroko let out a sudden gasp from the pain Kiyoshi’s large hands had just caused. Luckily, Kiyoshi’s attention had been elsewhere, as Hyuga had smacked him round the back of the head

“There is when we’ve got a game against Shutoku in a little over a week.” He huffed then turned around when he saw that everyone was now present.

Riko cleared her throat and took her position in front of them all.

“Right guys, like Hyuga just said, we’ve got an important game next week. Shutoku are always a tough team for us and we only just beat them at the Winter Cup, they’re probably going to be ten times harder to beat this time round as they’ll probably be desperate to get back at us for that last game.” 

“It’s just a case of scoring more than they do, coach.” Kagami piped up, “Just leave it to me!”

“Shut it, Kagami,” Riko said in a huff, “You go into the game thinking like that and they’ll pull the rug beneath your feet. They aren’t stupid, and they’ll have learnt from our previous matches. The more we play against them, the harder it’s gonna be to beat them! With that in mind, get your arses warmed up and practice your passes, we need to make sure they are perfect so they don’t have a chance to steal the ball off us.” 

They all dispersed to do a quick warm up, then got ready to split into teams to practice passing.

Only a couple of minutes in, Kuroko stood hunched over, his hand gently rubbing his stomach trying to ease the aches and pains that he was struggling to control. Sweat was already beading on his forehead and he felt shaky.

Kagami rushed over to Kuroko, placing a hand on his back which sent a further shot of pain across his body, an involuntary gasp escaped him despite his efforts to keep it in.

“Kuroko? Kuroko! Are you ok?” He sounded panicked as he leant over his friend, “Are you hurt somewhere?

Riko shouted to the rest of the team to continue their passing and lightly jogged over to Kuroko and Kagami,

“Kuroko, what’s wrong?” She asked firmly, not wanting him to make any excuses like he usually did when he was struggling,

“Mm, I’m fine, I’m ok,” Kuroko mumbled still rubbing his stomach gently, “I-I think I might just need to, ah, catch my breath a little.” 

He slowly made his way to the bench, Kagami and Riko following close behind.

Kagami could see him struggling to sit down on the bench and so leant over and took hold of his arm, aiming to help lower him down.

As soon as Kagami touched his arm, Kuroko let out a loud grunt and quickly pulled away from his touch, wincing as he did so. 

Kagami looked at him again, confusion and worry etched across his face,

“Seriously Kuroko, what the hell is wrong with you?” He went to move the sleeve of Kuroko’s t-shirt out of the way. Kuroko saw his intention and scooted across the bench slightly,

“Nothing, I just had a little accident last night, and I’m feeling a little worse for wear today that’s all.” He gave a quick explanation, hoping that Kagami would leave it at that. 

No such luck.

“An accident?” He asked, “What kind of accident? That’s not like you.” 

“I tripped at home and fell down a couple of stairs. Nothing major.”

Kagami looked doubtful, he could hear the uncertainty in Kuroko’s voice. He stood in front of Kuroko, then leant down and quickly moved his sleeve out of the way before he could argue.

His brow furrowed as he took in the deep red mark on Kuroko's upper arm, along with the few cuts that dotted around it,

“A fall? This doesn’t look like a mark you’d get from a fall, Kuroko.” 

Riko was looking from Kagami to Kuroko, frowning. 

“Look, it doesn’t matter how he did it. What I want to know is how bad it is. You keep clutching your stomach, Kuroko, is it really that bad?”

“Coach, I’m sorry, I banged it pretty badly so there's some bruising, it just feels a bit tight when I go to pass. It’ll be gone in a few days, I’m keeping on top of it.” 

Riko nodded, but Kagami still looked doubtful.

“Right, you’ll sit out today, but I want you to keep an eye on everyone else’s passing, see if you can spot anywhere for improvement. We’ll see how you’re feeling tomorrow before making you play, ok? We need you completely healed before we play Shutoku, the last thing we need is a handicap against them.” She sighed irritably. She knew it wasn’t Kuroko’s fault he was injured, but she had a bad feeling about the upcoming match.

“Yes, thank you Coach, I apologise for putting you out.” Kuroko felt terrible, the last thing he wanted was to burden his teammates and coach. He felt angry at himself for letting the pain get the better of him.

Kagami looked at Kuroko with a deep scowl on his face, he could tell Kuroko was blaming himself and it frustrated Kagami. Seeing Kuroko being so hard on himself when he obviously couldn’t help it, it was typical of him, but that didn’t mean Kagami had to agree with it. He also didn’t believe what he said about tripping on the stairs. Kuroko wasn’t that clumsy, was he? 

He decided that he’d question Kuroko more thoroughly after practice as he made him way back to his teammates.

The rest of their practice continued smoothly and Kuroko actually managed to give a couple of good pointers to some of the less experienced guys on the team, however after they had finished and Kagami walked back to the changing rooms, he realised that Kuroko had already managed to sneak off. His lack of presence and near-invisibility could be a real pain in the neck when you needed to find him.

Kagami got out his phone and sent him a quick text. _Where are you? Thought we could go Magi for some burgers?_

Kuroko text back startlingly quick, making his excuses and promising to see him in the morning.

Kagami huffed in irritation and got dressed. He felt like he had a stone in his stomach, and he didn’t like it one bit. Something was wrong with Kuroko, and he was so private that it would take all of Kagami’s efforts to get even the smallest bit of information out of him – it wasn’t going to be an easy task, that was a given.


	6. New Beginnings?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that has read so far. I apologise for this last chapter, I know myself that it isn't as good as it should be, but it's really just a bridge chapter, not one that I actually intended to write at all, it just felt like it wrote itself. Sneaky bugger. Anyway, thank you to everyone that has left me a comment, they really make me smile and I'm thrilled that people are actually enjoying reading something I've written (I think it's madness!) So yes, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I've pretty much finished the next one so you won't have to wait too long for it thankfully. Thank you very much!

Kuroko heaved out a sigh of relief when he finally closed the front door behind him. He slumped slightly, resting his back against it for a moment, his muscles were busying themselves trying to get his attention – they weren’t happy about the amount of movement he’d made that day and wanted to let him know that in no uncertain terms.

He was desperate to get into bed, or even have a nice warm bath, anything to get rid of the worsening aches and pains that took over and convulsed his body. 

He had, however, plenty of chores that he needed to get through before his dad came home. He didn’t want to give him any reason to get angry or lose his temper tonight. 

Kuroko sloppily rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, straightened up and decided to get started with the dinner preparations. He wasn’t sure what time his father would finally get home tonight, but he wanted to ensure that dinner was only a couple of minutes away from being plated up as he walked through the door. 

Padding his way to the kitchen, his mind wandered and recalled the day he had. Kagami hadn’t seemed completely convinced by his excuses during their basketball training earlier, and it worried him. He’d have to be a bit more convincing next time. Usually he wouldn’t pay too much mind to it, Kagami wasn’t exactly known for his observational skills or brainpower off the basketball courts, but the look he had seen in his best friends eyes as he lied his way through his explanations told him that this time, he wasn’t likely to let Kuroko get away with not telling him the whole truth. Sadly for Kagami, that was the absolute last thing that Kuroko intended to do. 

He busied himself his preparations, trying to think of the best way to properly convince his friend that nothing was amiss, when he heard his dad had come home. Kuroko jumped at the sudden noise at the door, and dropped the knife he was holding noisily to the counter. 

His father looked up at him when the noise reached him and he gazed at his son with a look of mild disgust.

“Quieten down will you, I’ve got a bad enough headache as it is without you adding to it.”

Kuroko quickly picked the knife up again, berating himself silently and apologized,

“I’m sorry, Dad. Do you want me to get you some headache tablets? I was going to make some smoked mackerel for tea, but if you’re feeling under the weather, I could make you something else if you’d prefer?”

Kotetsu huffed, obviously unhappy with the amount that Tetsuya was talking.

“Just leave it will you, how many times do I have to tell you to stop meddling?!” He had finished removing his shoes, and made his way towards the stairs, “I’m going out for the night, so don’t bother making me anything.”

“S-sorry, dad.” Kuroko quietly squeaked. Turning his head back to the counter as he heard his father ascend the stairs.

A short while later, he heard his father coming back down the stairs. He was dressed in one of his better suits, and Kuroko could see that he’d made an effort with his appearance for the first time since his mother had left them.

“Business meeting.” His father simply stated after seeing the quizzical expression on his sons face, “Won’t be back tonight.”

“Ah, right. Ok, well, see you tomorrow evening then, Dad. Have a nice night.” Kuroko managed to splutter out as he father slammed the door closed behind him without another word. 

Kuroko let out a breath, relief flooding his veins. He hadn’t realised how tightly he’d been tensing his body until his shoulders visibly relaxed. An entire evening not having to sit on tenterhooks. No quietly listening at his bedroom door every time he heard the stairs creak.

Suddenly a rush of guilt swept over him as he made his way back into the kitchen. He shouldn’t be having these feelings towards his own dad. Shouldn’t feel relief knowing he’d be out for the entire evening. He loved his dad and his dad loved him, they were just going through a rough patch, his father wasn’t himself. Kuroko knew that full well. His father was a loving, kind man. He was simply struggling at the moment. Kuroko shook his head, angry at himself for his selfish thoughts. 

No wonder his father got so angry at him. He was a terrible son sometimes.

He was disappointed in himself. He had sworn only a few days prior that he’d do anything and everything he could to make his dads life as easy as possible, however all he was currently managing to do was annoy him, it seemed. 

He quietly set to work on his dinner again, deciding that he’d take his father’s share to school with him for lunch the following day now that he knew his father would be out all evening. 

Despite the reprimand he had just given himself, he hummed with slightl unease, feeling nerves start to trickle their way through his gut. He said he wouldn’t be home that night, but would his father return home drunk again in the early hours of the morning? He had said that it was a business meeting, as far as Kuroko knew, they weren’t usually all-night affairs. Maybe it was somewhere far away, so his dad was staying in a hotel? His stomach did the occasional flip at the uncertainty he felt. Not enough for Kuroko to feel completely nauseous, but enough to keep him on edge. 

Trying to ignore the unease he felt, Kuroko ate his dinner. He had to admit, he'd gotten a lot better at it in the last week or so. He chuckled slightly to himself as he thought about volunteering to cook during Seirins next training camp, he was almost positive that the team would appreciate even his cooking if it meant keeping Riko out of the kitchen. Thinking about basketball caused a slight frown to form on his lips. He had missed playing it earlier. Anger bubbled in him at his own weakness. A couple of bruises and he could barely move around the court. If Aomine could see him now, Kuroko was sure he'd have a thing or two to tell him, none of which encouraging. He'd just have to try to speed up the feeling process for the aches and pains he had, and decided to take an extra long bath that evening, he was sure that his shoulders and neck would also appreciate the longer soak. 

He quickly put away his dishes and went upstairs to finish his homework as fast as possible. He wanted longer in the bathtub, but was also hoping for an early night. The previous couple of nights had been a constant struggle, trying to make sure that the scratches and cuts on his back didn't sting, but also that the bruises on his stomach didnt ache. He'd barely managed a couple of hours sleep this week and knew that it wasn't helping him to heal any faster. 

Two hours later, he finally lay down in his bed, his cheeks still pleasantly flushed from the hot bath he'd just gotten out of. He felt like his muscles were sighing in relief and decided that he'd be having longer soaks until his bruises had completely healed. 

He closed his eyes, hoping that he'd manage to get at least a few hours’ sleep before his dad came home and made a racket.

However, Kuroko didn’t hear his father return that night. As he was leaving the house, he noticed his shoes, albeit slightly crooked, sat in front of the door. He let out a breath of air with relief. So his father had come home whilst he was asleep, judging by the fact that he hadn't woken Kuroko up, who had turned into a light sleeper the past few days, he obviously hadn't had too much to drink. At least that was a slight improvement on his father’s recent behaviour. 

His father continued to come home late the following few evenings, and Kuroko found himself lying in bed with bated breath waiting for his father to return. Each night, however, he let out a sigh of relief when he heard his father’s bedroom door close with a soft click. His father appeared to be sober more often than not this week, and there was no longer the anxious stone sat in the pit of Kuroko’s stomach caused by the slamming of the front door, the light sweat on his forehead caused by the loud thumping of his father’s footsteps on the stairs, or the slight shake of his body when he heard his father storm past his bedroom door in search of his own. 

Kuroko was also relieved to find that his father hadn’t gone to raise his hand to him at all during the week either. By Sunday evening, the bruises, aches and pains his father had caused the previous week had finally started to disappear. Only one particularly stubborn bruise was left on his stomach, its edges a sickly yellow against his porcelain white skin, which Kuroko was diligently covering with creams and ointments to try and help it fade away quicker. The scratches and cuts on his back and arms had healed, and only the worst of which left slight white strips across his back. 

Monday afternoon rolled around, and Kuroko felt that he was finally well and able enough to start weaning himself back into basketball practice under the watchful eye of his coach. Though it tired him out a lot quicker than it used to, his muscles seemingly reluctant to let him be as mobile as he once was, he pushed through.

His team mates all seemed glad that he was finally back after his week of absence, and all of them were obviously putting in more effort now they knew Kuroko, and his passes, were back.

Although he was extremely grateful that he could finally get back on the courts, he found himself almost unconsciously taking a step back from the team, wanting to draw even less attention to himself, hoping that his team mates didn’t notice the slight delays in his passing, the heavier than usual panting. 

Riko picked up on that, asking to speak with him at the end of practice.

“It’s good to have to you back, Kuroko.” She said as they walked back to the training rooms, “It’s actually ridiculous how different the team plays when you’re not here, yano? As much as I hate to admit it.”

“I apologise again for putting you out like that.” Kuroko replied earnestly, “I’ll make sure to put in as much effort as possible before our next game.”

“You seemed to be struggling a bit out there. You might need to do a bit of extra training, but we’ll pretty much be doing it daily anyway, so you should be alright.”

“Ok, I’ll bear that in mind.” Kuroko said, as he went to get dressed.

Kagami was still getting dressed when Kuroko entered the changing room. He looked up with a wide grin on his face when Kuroko walked in.

“Glad you’re back, Kuroko.” He said with a slight smile which made Kuroko’s chest tighten suddenly, “It’s been a pain, no one else can do your passes so I didn’t get to practice receivin’ them.” 

Kuroko sighed, he had been worried that Kagami wanted to question him, but it seemed that he only wanted a chat.

“I’m sorry, Kagami-kun.” He said, returning Kagami’s smile, “I didn’t realise you had come to rely on me so much.” 

Kagami blushed slightly, obviously flustered.

“Shut it, Kuroko.” He managed to splutter out, “I’m more than capable of winning against Midorima myself, you not being there just makes it harder to get shots in quickly.”

“I’m sure, Kagami-kun.” He said.


	7. Sudden Panic

Kagami shoved the last piece of his breakfast roll into his mouth and helped it down with a healthy chug of orange juice and he heard a light chuckle behind him. 

“Kagami-kun, the amount you manage to eat everyday never ceases to amaze me.” Said his pale skinned best friend. It was the first time Kagami had seen Kuroko smile in at least a couple of weeks and the first time Kuroko had willingly initiated a conversation with Kagami since he had been forced to sit out of basketball practice, and Kagami quickly found himself smiling back. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed that soft expression but could fully appreciate its absence now it had appeared before him again.

“Shut it, Kuroko.” He replied turning around fully, his chest pushed against the back of his chair, to get a better look at his companion. “You seem happier today, you’ve been in a right mood these last couple of weeks, you know.”

He instantly regretted his choice of words when he saw the smile stiffen slightly, it was almost as if shutters had come down on his friends face. His eyes now guarded, his posture closed off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Kagami-kun.” He said in a way that Kagami recognized meant the end of their conversation, as short lived as it was. He sighed, barely a couple of words out of Kuroko and he’d already managed to ruin it. Typical idiot Kagami. 

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Kuroko. You know that. I’m just glad to see you getting back to normal, you know?” His friend kept quiet, so Kagami, taking the hint and sighing irritably at his own stupidity, turned back around and faced the front of the classroom.

Kuroko had been almost impossibly quiet for the last few days. He had slowly been weaning himself back into their training sessions, but he hadn’t been his usual self. Kagami, along with the majority of their teammates, couldn’t help but notice that the usual spark of determination that lit up his friends’ eyes had been painfully absent. It had been like playing with a completely different person. When the subject had been brought to Kuroko’s attention, he’d brush it off with the excuse of being tired and no one seemed to be able to get any more out of him than that. 

Kagami was close to losing hope of ever getting his friend back and was at a complete and utter loss as to how to go about fixing the problem. Kagami was the first one to admit that he was absolutely hopeless when it came to strange things like feelings. Problems with basketball? Fine. Hungry? Super. Upset friend? Not a chance. You’d probably be better of talking to a brick wall when it came to dealings with feelings. But really, he was trying in his own, rather simple, way. He wanted his best friend back as soon as possible. Not only because basketball was turning into a nightmare, a Light was nothing when it didn’t have the shadows dutifully backing it up, but also because he missed his friends calming albeit stoic presence. He sat there pondering, slowly becoming more and more confused and agitated by the situation when he heard his friend behind him take a large, shuddering breath. He kept as still as he could, waiting for, and silently willing, his friend to speak.

“I’m sorry, Kagami-kun,” a barely-there whisper spoke, “I know I h-haven’t quite been myself lately. But, I’m fine. Really.”

Kagami raised his eyebrows slightly, then slowly turned around to look at Kuroko, red eyes meeting blue. 

His heart leapt in his chest when he saw how uncomfortable his friend looked, a slight blush spreading across his face, his hands tightly wrung in front of him. His whole body curled forward almost as if to make himself as small as possible, making his already tiny frame even more so.

Kagami reached out a hand quickly, without even taking the time to think about what he was doing, taking hold of Kuroko’s own trembling fingers, the knuckles on which shone a bright white. Kuroko flinched heavily at the touch, a small gasp escaping him involuntarily. However, Kagami didn’t let go. He refused to, and when Kuroko looked up into Kagami’s face, seeing not only the kindness but the determination that was clear on his features, his body relaxed. The tensing of his muscles leaving his shoulders slightly, though not entirely.

“I know you’re not Kuroko. I know it. I may not notice the small stuff as much as you, but gimme a break, man! I’m nowhere near as stupid as what you lot all think I am, ya know?” He huffed out, gently squeezing the pale fingers in his grasp. 

Kuroko chuckled lightly, the sound of which tightly pulling at Kagami’s heartstrings, he’d missed that sound lately. 

“I’m sorry, Kagami-kun. I don’t believe that you are stupid at all.” 

“Seriously though Kuroko, I’m not gonna force you to tell me wha’s up or anything like that, but I’m not just your friend for show, right? If somethin’s happenin’ or if there’s somethin’ on your mind, I’d rather you tell me straight on instead of lettin’ me try and work it out for myself, ‘cause we both know I’m gonna get the wrong end of the stick or somethin’, ya know?” The blush that had been lightly brushing Kuroko’s cheekbones now spread like wildfire and deepened, a rush of red taking over the pale skin of his ears, nose and neck. 

“Ah, um, right. T-thank you Kagami-kun, I’ll bear that in mind.” He managed to stutter out. 

Their conversation was cut short by the sudden appearance of their teacher at the front of the class, who busied himself handing back their latest test results. All colour swiftly left Kagami’s face as he released Kuroko’s hands and turned back to his desk. The exam had been an absolute disaster, he could remember it vividly, and he could also remember that their coach had already given him a fair number of warnings about keeping his grades up. She was going to murder him if he had done badly. 

He gulped loudly, his Adams apple bobbing furiously in his throat as his gaze rested on the red scrawl at the top of his exam paper that had just landed in front of him. 

11%

His stomach dropped. It was official.He was a goner. Riko was going to tie him up and throw him in a river if she found out about this, which she obviously would. He quickly turned round to look at Kuroko’s score and his face fell further, he’d at least somehow managed to score a respectable 68.

His internal panic was interrupted by a voice in front of him. 

“Retakes next Monday for anyone that actually managed to get less than a 54.” Their teacher stood at the top of the class, arms crossed in front of his chest, “And anyone that doesn’t manage to hit the class average will receive a failing grade for this class. End of.”

Failing grade? 

Failing grade meant no basketball. 

His whole body shuddered at the thought.

“Kuroko, you’ve gotta help me,” He whispered furiously to the friend behind him, “If I don’t get a 54, there’s no way Riko is gonna let me play against Shutoku. I’ve seriously got no clue about any of this shit.”

A troubled expression flashed across Kuroko’s face, his eyebrows lightly furrowing. His reluctance was obvious. 

“I don’t know, Kagami-kun. I do not think that I will be of much help to be honest.” He replied.

“Please? There’s no way in hell I’m gonna be able to learn all this in time on my own, you know I’m useless at this crap! Please?” Kagami’s desperation was plain to see and hear and Kuroko easily found himself being swayed by his best friends’ plea. Kuroko let out a small sigh.

“Alright, Kagami-kun, but you really must learn your lesson next time.”

“Ah, perfect! Yeah, I will, I will. Thanks! You can come round mine on Saturday, right? We’ll do some studin’ then hit the basketball courts near mine for a bit.” A wide and relieved smile spread its way across Kagami’s face, he was surprised by how easily he’d managed to convince his friend to help.

“Mm, we’ll only be playing basketball IF you manage to learn everything in time for the exam, I don’t particularly want to be dragged into Riko’s bad books if you manage to fail again, Kagami-kun.” He replied, though Kagami could tell without looking that Kuroko had a slight smile on his face as he said it. 

The rest of the week passed by quickly and by the time Kuroko and Kagami found themselves on the way to the gym changing rooms to get ready for their training on Friday evening, he almost felt as if the last couple of weeks had been a terrible dream. All of the marks and bruises had finally disappeared completely, and he no longer felt any pain when he moved. All of this meant that he was more eager than he had been in a while to feel the rough leather of a basketball in his hand and that thought sent a small smile to his lips.

Though not quite up to his usual standard, Kuroko found himself putting in twice as much effort as he had done previously, just thankful that he was finally back playing basketball. His team mates also all noticed the slight improvements throughout the week and were glad that Kuroko finally seemed to be getting back to normal. 

As they got dressed at the end of the session, Riko popped her head into the changing room, looking for the teams Shadow.

“Hey, Kuroko, can I have a quick word before you leave, please?”

“Ah, yes.” He replied, quickly pulling on the remaining items of clothing and his shoes and exiting the room, his bag swinging lightly at his side.

“You seem to be doing a lot better, Kuroko.” She said with a satisfied smile, “A couple more days and I think you’ll be back to normal so I’m not particularly worried. You think you’ll be alright with that?”

“Yes, definitely. I planned to do a bit of extra training with Kagami-kun tomorrow, so I should be back to normal in no time, I’m sorry for the inconvenience I’ve cause you over the last couple of weeks.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that, what’s done is done, we just want you sorted in time for the match, you know? Just don’t overdo it alright? The last thing we need is an injury caused by you pushing yourself too much.”

“I understand, I’ll take care.” He assured her.

“You ready to head off?” Kagami asked as he made his way to his teammate and coach, his stomach noisily grumbling and begging for its usual mountain of after-training burgers. “I’m starving.”

“Mm, yes, Kagami-kun” Kuroko replied, waving a quick goodbye to Riko and the few members of their team that had yet to leave the gym, “See you next week, everyone.”

After a quick stop off at Magi for their burgers and milkshake, Kuroko parted ways with Kagami with the promise of seeing him early the next morning. Although Kagami looked less than impressed about the reason for the meeting, he couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread across his face when he told Kuroko to remember his trainers. 

“We’ll get the learnin’ crap outta the way as quick as we can then head to the courts near mine,” He shouted slightly as he retreated towards the train station. “I’ve got a ball so don’t bother with that! See you in the morning, Kuroko!”

“Yes, see you Kagami-kun.” A small smile crossing his own lips in response to his friends’ enthusiasm. He made his way home, feeling thoroughly excited at the prospect of spending the day with his best friend.


	8. Strange Feelings

It was lunchtime the following day when Kuroko and Kagami found themselves being almost buried beneath a towering pile of textbooks.

“Argh! I give up!” Kagami huffed, noisily throwing his pen across the table he and Kuroko were sat at. They’d only been sat there working for a little over an hour and already he’d managed to reach the end of his tether trying to understand a particularly difficult body of text and his patience was wearing thin. “Seriously, I don’t get why we have to learn this, no one even needs to know this crap anyways!”

“Kagami-kun, that is neither here nor there at the minute. You need to learn it so you might as well just get on with it. I doubt I really need to remind you of this but, should you not get the desired grades on Monday, coach is probably going to skin you alive. Surely that should be motive enough for you to concentrate?” Kuroko could feel himself slowly getting more and more irritated at his best friend and couldn’t help but think back to a similar situation they’d had previously when the entire team had pooled together to help Kagami pass the review day tests in order to be allowed to play in the Interhigh. Kuroko sighed, they’d somehow managed it then, so surely one little test should be easy enough for the two of them to get through. In theory anyway. 

Although his face remained unimpressed, under the threat of Riko’s anger, Kagami found his gaze once again locked in battle with the complicated kanji mocking him from the book he held in front of him.

It took a further hour before Kagami finally started to grasp what Kuroko was trying to painstakingly teach him, and an hour more after that before he could finally do questions without his helpers input.

By the end of it, Kagami felt that his brain had been thoroughly fried and despite feeling exhausted from the amount of thinking he had had to do that morning, was itching to get himself outside and onto the nearest basketball court as soon as he could in order to let off some steam.

“Come on, Kuroko. It’s still pretty light outside so we should be able to get a fair amount of time out on the courts.” He said, having a quick glance out of the balcony doors whilst standing up, quickly removing himself from the mountain of work and stretching. 

Kuroko sighed, but soon followed. Kagami had managed to learn the basics of what was needed for the test, which should at least get him a better mark than he scraped in the last test, even if he couldn’t answer the more complex questions that were likely to show up. Kuroko quickly decided to also lend him the help of the lucky pencil he himself had received from Midorima when he remembered how Kagami had relied on it back on the review day tests for questions he didn’t know the answer to. There wasn’t anything else Kuroko could think of that he could do for Kagami at that point, the rest depended on Kagami himself. 

Kuroko was quite glad they could finally go outside, as he could also feel himself getting anxious with the need to get out of the apartment and onto the basketball court too.

He hated to admit it, but the short time he had had away from the daily training sessions had hit him hard and he definitely felt that he needed as much practice as possible before their upcoming match. He felt slightly guilty when he recalled his conversation with their coach the previous day, but knew he’d have train even harder if he was to stand any chance of actually helping his team up against Shutoku.

He quickly put on his shoes, taking hold of the couple of bottles of water Kagami had gotten out of the fridge for them. Kagami was already halfway out the door, a basketball held snug beneath his arm.

“Come on, come on!” He said impatiently, reminding Kuroko of a small, excitable child despite his massive body and extensive amount of muscle.

“Yes, yes, Kagami-kun.” He reassured his friend, stepping out of the apartment and following him to the nearby basketball courts, a slight excited smile playing on his lips the whole way. 

Kuroko soon found himself breathing heavily, taking a large gulp of the water they’d brought with them. Kagami was running around the court like a mad man, a couple of kids were watching him, their mouths wide open in awe. He was obviously showing off slightly for them, dunking more times than was strictly necessary, but the sight made Kuroko smile to himself.

Kuroko himself had spent the last hour struggling to keep up with his friends’ ridiculously fast paced basketball. He really could understand how hard the teams they faced had it when up against a beast like Kagami, but he couldn’t help feeling exhilarated each time he managed to get the ball out of his friends grasp, though this didn’t happen quite as many times as Kuroko had hoped it would.

Once Kagami had finally had his fill of practicing, a good few hours after they’d first arrived at the court, they decided to return to his apartment. He offered to make them something to eat as a thank you for the help earlier on that afternoon. Kuroko was grateful for this, his stomach had started to rumble slightly due to the vigorous exercise he’d just done.

“You can have a shower or whatever first,” Kagami said when he opened his front door, bags of food swinging lightly on the crook of his arm, “It’s gonna take me a little while to make the food anyway.”

“Yes, thank you, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko replied, thankful for the offer. He hadn’t trained this hard in a long while and he could feel the results of it on his sticky, sweat-soaked skin. 

“Oh yeh, I’ll lend you a shirt as well, no use putting that one back on.” He said as he quickly nipped into his bedroom.

“Thank you, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said as he took hold of the overly large t-shirt and made his way to the bathroom, his shoulders already relaxing from the mere thought of stepping under the hot water. 

Once showered, Kuroko got himself dressed and found his stomach rumbling loudly at the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. He quickly followed the scent and found his eyes going wide at the large selection of food Kagami had managed to cook in the short amount of time he’d been showering.

“Ah, Kagami-kun, was it necessary to make this much?” He asked as his friend sat himself down in front of the piles of rice, fish, soup and meat. 

“You kiddin’? You’ve seen me eat haven’t you? No way am I letting any of this go to waste!” He said, grinning as he spooned large servings of the dishes into his bowl.

Kuroko found himself chuckling under his breath slightly as he sat down and got himself a modest portion of rice and fish.

“Thanks for the food, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said as he brought the bowl up and picked up a small piece of lightly peppered mackerel with his chopsticks. It looked and smelt delicious and his mouth salivated before he’d even taken a bite.

He was always amazed when he ate Kagami’s cooking, and this time was no different. If you looked at the redheaded giant, you wouldn’t think for a moment that he knew his way around a kitchen, but the delicious flavours of the fish in front of Kuroko could readily attest to his talent. 

After far too few spoonful’s however, he found himself completely stuffed and felt a wave of exhaustion rush over him. Looking up, he saw Kagami continuing to spoon more of the never-ending food into his seemingly bottomless bowl. 

Kagami looked up when he noticed that Kuroko had finished eating, a small crease appearing between his bushy eyebrows.

“You done already?” He said, looking at the small dent that Kuroko had managed to make in the food before him, “You’ve barely had anythin’!”

Kuroko shot a withering look at his friend and sighed,

“You know I don’t have a large appetite, Kagami-kun”

“Ah, I guess so, that’s probably why you’re still so small and pale, Kuroko, You seriously need to get some meat on your bones.” Seeing the expression on Kuroko’s face turn stony at his words, he laughed, shoveling a couple more pieces of fish into his mouth. “You can get going if you want, you don’t need to worry about helping me tidy up or anythin’.”

Kuroko would have liked nothing more than to take his friend up on the offer, he could feel his eyes struggling to stay open and was already looking forward to getting into bed, but he declined nonetheless.

“It’s fine Kagami-kun. You went to a lot of effort to make the food, the least I can do is help you tidy it up.” He got up and took a seat on the comfortable sofa and decided to wait there for Kagami to finish his massacre of the food in front of him.

“Mm, suit yourself,” Kagami said through a mouthful of rice.

Kuroko sat back, getting himself comfortable and soon found himself fighting against his eyelids, who seemed intent on closing. It was a short-lived fight, and before he knew it he was well on his way to sleep. He thought he vaguely heard a soft chuckle from his friend and his stomach fluttered slightly at the sound. Shortly after he felt the weight of a soft blanket being thrown over his torso, enveloping him in warmth.

Kuroko slowly opened his eyes. His neck was sore and his mouth was dry. His body felt toasty in the warm, fluffy blanket, but his face felt hot where it leant up against something.

Pulling his head up slightly, he realized that he had been leaning against Kagami, who had also fallen asleep next to him. His head was lulling back slightly and a low snore was making its way between his lips. 

He looked so different when he was asleep, Kuroko thought to himself, a lot softer, like an overly large teddy bear. He chuckled at the thought, and then noticed that the butterflies in his stomach were still there. The realization that they seemed to flutter more intensely the longer his gaze stayed locked on his friend caused a slight frown to make its way across his features.

Kuroko settled himself back down against Kagami as gently as he could, the warmth of his skin was actually quite comforting and he found himself being involuntarily drawn to it, it felt like a lifetime since he’d last been so close to someone. He was used to big hugs and kisses from his mother but had since missed the closeness.

He let out small sigh and he brought the blanket up to his chin, closing his eyes once again. 

And then sat up with a start. His eyes wide open. He scrambled up. What time was it? He needed to get home, quickly. Why hadn’t he checked the time sooner?

He whipped his head round and looked outside and saw that it was pitch black. He grabbed his phone and checked the time, ten to twelve. He’d have to run if he was going to catch the last train. 

He shook Kagami, not bothering to be gentle.

“Kagami-kun! Kagami-kun, I’ve got to go, it’s getting late.” He said in a rush. Kagami groaned, stretching himself up and rubbing his eyes.

“Eh? Oh, Kuroko, you’re still here?” He said groggily.

“Yes, and I need to get going right now if I want to make the last train.”

“Mm, you can stay over if you want, I’ve got a spare futon around here somewhere, I’m sure.”

“No,” He said, his rising panic evident as he spoke, “I-I’ve got to get home. I can’t stay out late, my da- my parents wouldn’t like it.”

“Ah, no worries then. Here, don’t forget this,” He said as he picked up Kuroko’s bag and passed it to him. He frowned slightly his friends panicked state, he’d stayed over a few times before and it had never been a problem, he hadn’t seen Kuroko like this in a long time, if ever. “Hey, you sure you don’t want to stay? You can give your mum a quick call and let her know you’re here?” 

“Thank you, but I really need to get going. I’m sorry, I haven’t helped you tidy up, Kagami-kun.” He quickly apologised when he noticed the piles of dishes still left on the table from their earlier feast. 

“Ah, don’t stress. It’s fine, it’s fine. Just get going, I’ll do the dishes.” Kagami said, brushing off Kuroko’s apology at once.

Kuroko nodded and quickly said his goodbyes and rushed outside. 

He only just made it to the station in time, and huffed out a short sigh of relief when he finally managed to sit down,

Kuroko hadn’t stayed out this late in a while, long before his mother had left and he was unsure as to whether his father would allow him out this late or not. 

He quickened his pace once off the train, wanting to get home as soon as possible, grateful that his house wasn’t far from the station. He hadn’t meant to stay out so long, and definitely hadn’t meant to fall asleep on Kagami’s sofa. He laughed bitterly at his own stupidity as he half jogged, and half walked towards his house, his bag thumping heavily against his waist. 

Turning the corner onto his street, he strained his eyes to see if there were any lights on in the house to signal that his father was still awake. Sighing in relief, he saw that it was in complete darkness. He stopped jogging straight away and, tightly clutching the stitch that had formed in his side, slowly walked towards the house, getting his keys out and trying to catch his breath.

He quietly made his way to the door, opening it with as little noise as was possible. If his father happened to be home, the last thing he wanted to do was disturb his sleep. 

He removed his shoes once the door was securely shut behind him, taking extra care to gently place them on the floor and slowly padded his way to the kitchen, still slightly breathless from his swift journey home and needing a drink.

Walking past the doorway to the lounge, Kuroko felt his heart drop to his stomach and his legs cease to function when he heard an irritated cough come from his father’s favourite armchair.

“Just where, the fuck, have you been all day, Tetsuya?” Venom. The words were spat at him with pure hatred and a cold shiver shot through Kuroko’s whole body, his breathing ceasing entirely.


	9. Never-ending Pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, just thought I would fore-warn everyone about to read this chapter. Very graphic violence in this one folks. I haven't gotten much sleep this week and I've noticed that the less sleep I get, the more violence tends to be in my writing, strangely enough. I wasn't actually expecting to do a chapter like this again to be honest but I just felt like writing it this morning! Anyone not wanting to read it, I'll see you next chapter for some super-sleuthing Kagami! Finally, I just want to say thanks again for choosing to read my work, and I really, really appreciate all of your wonderful comments (they make me grin like a maniac when i read them). I didn't think I'd get into this as much as I have and the fact that I haven't given up yet is 100% because of the lovely comments I get, so yes thank you very, very much! Enjoy!

Eyes widening like a rabbit caught in headlights, Kuroko felt his legs move before he realised what he was doing. Cautiously, he retreated backwards away from the threat, stuttering excuses tumbling over themselves trying to get out of his mouth,

“I-I’m sorry, D-dad! I’ve b-been at Kagami-kuns…a friends, h-he needed help studying...!” His legs continued their backward journey, his arms raising to try to protect his shivering body. His father had stood up, the armchair squeaking slightly at the sudden movements of its occupant. 

“I’m s-sorry! I told you, I t-told you I’d be out all day, Dad” He whimpered, his father drawing closer. Kuroko could smell the sharp scent of alcohol coming off him. He could see the dark bloodshot eyes. How long had he been sat there waiting for Kuroko’s return? Getting more and more frustrated at his sons absence?

“I don’ wan’ your ‘scuses, Tetsu.” He growled, “I told you not to leave! I told you. YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME!!” 

The sudden thunder of his father’s voice sent a further shockwave of shivers through Kuroko’s entire body and he struggled to keep himself up. The severe shaking in his legs threatened to topple him over. He looked up into his father’s eyes, silently pleading for him to calm down, for him to stop. Calmly, calmly. He needed to calm his father down.

“Please dad. I’m sorry, I’m n-not leaving you, I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

At this, rage flooded his father’s features, a sudden angry flush spreading across his cheeks. He reached out and took hold of Kuroko by one slender wrist. Kuroko gasped loudly, cringing as pain shot up his arm at his father’s sudden grasp. He felt his whole body seize up. He knew that should he make any movements away from his father it was highly likely that the grip on his wrist would cause some serious damage. He couldn’t risk that. 

A smirk tugged at his father’s lips when he realised Kuroko had stopped his feeble attempts to get away. 

Kuroko found himself being roughly thrown to the floor, his elbows jutting out to try and soften the blow. A high-pitched gasp escaped him as his elbows made contact with the hard wooden floor of the hallway. Before he could even think about moving, his father was crouched over him, fists clenched, his face manic. 

The first blow shook his entire body. Worse than any pain he had felt before, tears instantly sprung to his wide eyes. 

Three more blows. Each one sending a pulse of pain throughout his whole body. He let out a cry with every hit, tears streaming down his face. His hands desperately pushing at his father’s shoulders, his head, anything to get him off, to stop the onslaught of pain. 

As fast as it started, it stopped. 

His father hoisted himself back into a standing position, the sharp glint in his eye sending shivers down Kuroko’s spine.

“Take your shirt off and get on your hands and knees, Tetsu.” He barked. 

Kuroko’s heart missed a beat, his crying stopped instantly.

“Wha-what?” He managed to stutter out, barely able to even breathe, the sound of blood rushing in his ears.

Quickly losing patience, his father bent down again to roughly shake Kuroko’s shoulder.

“I said, take off your shirt and get the fuck on your hands and knees.” He managed to pull Kuroko over, whose forearms slammed against the floor. Kuroko whimpered.

His father grabbed at the bottom of his shirt, yanking it up to, and slightly over, Kuroko’s head. The shirt pulled at his neck and Kuroko violently shook, his eyes blocked by the thick, dark fabric. 

Giving one last push against Kuroko’s back, he heard his father straighten himself up and the soft clink of the metal on his belt.

The shuddering took over Kuroko’s whole body and his arms gave way under his weight. 

“P-please, please dad. P-please do-don’t do this!” He begged, tears mixing with saliva and dribbling down his chin. “Please, please don’t!”

Kuroko’s father either didn’t hear him or was choosing to ignore his son’s pleas as he continued removing his belt, pulling it off swiftly with one quick tug. He looked down at his son, whose whole body was trembling, the muscles visibly contracting and releasing on his milky white back. The sight of his son, so obviously frightened of him, sent a new wave of fury through him.

How dare his son be frightened of him? Had he not done everything he possibly could to make his son’s life as easy as possible? He was left wanting for nothing! And yet, here he was, begging and pleading like some needy, wounded animal. Ridiculous.

He stepped closer to the trembling boy in front of him, parted his legs slightly and lifted his hand, tightly gripping the firm leather of his belt with both hands. 

Then he brought it down.

The satisfying slap of the belt on his son’s supple skin sent shivers down his own back. The loud choke of his son’s voice, the gasp and the shudder all causing goosebumps to rise instantly on his arms and the back of his neck.

Again, again. 

He brought the belt up and quickly swung it back down. A short, sharp gasp from his son.

Again, again.

The belt continued its assault, and the once pale back was now adorned with strips of red. 

Again…again.

Kuroko let out grunts and screams and cries and pleas as the belt slapped harsh against him. 

Kotetsu’s stomach was clenching and unclenching, goosebumps still prickled his skin. He bit down on his lip in concentration, a few grunts escaping as he brought his arm up and down, up and down. 

The sound was wetter now, the slight squelch of leather on blood. The marks were turning into open wounds. Not many, only a few. He tightened his grip.

Again, again. 

He’d lost count of how many times he’d heard the crack of the belt, the gasp of his son. Ten times? Twenty? Was it enough yet? Had he learnt his lesson yet? His son wasn’t going to leave him. Not now, not ever.

A few more, a couple more. Tetsu will be a good boy. He won’t go anywhere.

Again, again. 

Kuroko’s breathing hitched. His whole body was screaming for release, it stung, it burnt, he could feel blood trickling down his sides, wanted it to stop. He needed it to stop. He continued hearing the sound of the belt whipping through the air, the sticky slap as it made sudden contact with his skin, the hard grunts of his father as he put all his strength into the motion. 

And then there was nothing. 

Kuroko let out a sound partway between a sob and a hysterical laugh. Tears and spit falling freely from his face and mixing with the droplets of blood already adorning their polished floor. His arms had long since stopped holding him up, and he finally felt his legs follow suit as he slumped to his side, his back and sides protesting against the cold, wet floor.

Silence but the sounds of heavy breathing.

His father was looking down at him, his face almost devoid of emotion. He’d gone past the point of understanding what he was doing. The boy that lay on the floor beneath him was no more his son as he was the child’s father. He was a monster, and the trembling mess at his feet was purely his victim. He looked at the belt in his hand, covered sticky with red. He didn’t know what that substance was, it wasn’t blood. It couldn’t be blood. Hysteria rose within him and he felt adrenaline rush through his system. His hand shook slightly, the belt leaving his loose grip and falling to the floor. 

He made no effort to pick it up from its resting place. 

He turned, seemingly unable to hear the rattling breathes and quiet murmurs from the pale boy shuddering on his floor. Calmly, he walked to the kitchen, he was thirsty. Beer. He wanted a beer. Staggering slightly, he pulled open the fridge. Beer. He pulled out a can, his shaking hands only just able to grip it. He opened it, took a sip, then replaced it in the fridge. Bed. Sleep. That’s what he needed. Not beer. He wasn’t thirsty. He was tired.

He made his way towards the stairs, he had to be up early in the morning. Tired, he was so very tired. 

The pain was intense. Worse than anything Kuroko had ever felt that was for certain. His previous injuries were child’s play, a small scratch and bump in comparison to the burning, aching, stinging mess that was his back at the moment. The blood was no longer trickling from the few open wounds, which allowed Kuroko a brief moment of thanks at least, but he could feel the cold draught coming from the doorway blow across the open welts like a hurricane, biting at the raw skin.

His breathing was beginning to slow down, no longer did he feel light-headed from hyperventilating. His heartbeat slowly returning to its normal pattern from the rapid rhythm of minutes ago. He shakily brought a hand up to his head, gently removing the wrapping embrace of his shirt from his face and wiping the spit from around his mouth and chin. 

He needed to get upstairs, he needed to get to the bathroom and see the damage, clean the wounds, reduce the risk of infection.

He knew all this, but found he couldn’t will his legs to move. They lay stubborn on the floor. Grateful that he was no longer kneeling against hard wood. 

Maybe he could stay here, for just a little while, he thought as a sigh quietly trickled from his lips. Just until the stinging stopped. That would be alright.

When he closed his eyes, he could almost forget that he was lying in the hallway. Could almost forget that just in front of him lay a tan leather belt stained with his blood. He could forget the look like his father gave him.

…No. No, that he couldn’t forget. That lingered on the back of his eyelids. 

His breathing, which had just mellowed, now hitched as he took in a large shuddering breath. His heartbeat picked up its tempo in his chest and he thought it might actually be trying to rip through his ribcage, leave him entirely. 

He couldn’t forget. He couldn’t. It frightened him. His father frightened him.

A sudden vibration on his thigh made his body jump and he let out a hiss as the muscles in his back contracted. With shaking fingers and sweaty palms he managed to clumsily pull out the mobile phone he had forgotten in his pocket. He gripped it tightly, bringing the display in front of his face to see through tear soaked lashes, what had caused it to wake. 

Ah, Kagami-kun. 

_Kuroko, you manage 2 get home ok?_

Kuroko chuckled bitterly under his breath and his grip on the phone tightened until the skin stretched over his knuckles turned stark white. He cradled it to his chest. He could call him. He could call Kagami and he’d be round here straight away, he’d save him. Without a doubt he’d save Kuroko. He’d stop the pain. He would. 

Relief washed over him.

Ah, wait.

He couldn’t do that, he couldn’t’ call his best friend and tell him that he’d failed his dad. He’d let his dad become entirely taken over by grief and hadn’t done anything, couldn’t do anything.

Instead, he lay, cradling the phone and the message from his friend.

_Help me, please help me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do._

The silent mantra repeated in his head, over and over, but he made no move to call out loud, to ask for help from the one person he could wholly rely on.

_Help me, help me. I’m scared. It hurts._


	10. The Aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mm, another chapter that I hadn't actually intended to do (or rather, I knew I wanted these details somewhere, just didn't realise I'd be making a full chapter out of them), but fear not, we're getting there...slowly and surely. So, thank you for bearing with me, I hope you enjoy, and once again thank you very much for taking the time to read this when there is literally thousands of (much better) KnB ff to read! I really appreciate it.

Stinging, burning pain woke Kuroko up in the early hours of the morning the next day. He’d fallen asleep on his front, free of any covers to try to reduce the pain on his back, but he’d obviously flipped over in his sleep, resulting in the severe sharp pains currently shooting across the sore skin. 

He gasped and winced slightly as he peeled himself off the bed, he’d covered himself with as much pain relief cream as he could the previous night, but it had long since been absorbed into the vicious welts crisscrossing his skin which were now starting to ooze slowly. The aches and pains that were threatening to overtake him made his head spin slightly, a lump forming in his throat fast, making him heave. 

His body was still weak from the shock of his father’s activities and his hands faintly shook as he brushed off the nausea and pushed himself up off the bed, quietly padding his way over to his bedroom door, he wanted to inspect the damage with fresh eyes, hoping that it wasn’t as bad as what he had recalled through tear-stained lashes before going to bed all those hours ago. He gingerly opened the door, sneaking a quick glance in the direction of father’s bedroom, and seeing it closed, he tiptoed the couple of steps to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a small sigh, sweat already forming on his forehead due to the strain his small trip was making on his raw skin and sore muscles. 

He once again found himself in front of the bathroom mirror, eyes red and puffy from the amount he’d cried, his skin a deathly pale. Even his hair seemed to have given up, lying flat to his head, sticking to his wet forehead slightly rather than the usual out-of-control mess that greeted him each morning. He braced himself slightly, letting out a quick breath before silently willing himself to turn around.

He strained his neck round to look at the damage and felt tears well up in his eyes as he focused on the dark angry marks that covered his whole back. From the copious number of cuts and welts he could see trickles of blood mixed with sweat slowly dribbling their way down towards the waist of his trousers, a pale pink trailing in their wake. He shuddered and then winced at the sudden burn his movements sent across his body. It was worse than he had imagined, a lot worse.

He turned his body back to the mirror, lightly resting his hands on the sink in front. His arms and legs appeared to have a permanent tremble going through them, but he managed to stay on his feet. His gaze locking on that of his reflection, he cringed. The face staring back at him was a stranger to Kuroko, his face pulled into a constant grimace, a clear sheen of sweat covering all visible skin. He looked ill. Sighing, he tightly shut his eyes to the boy in front and clenched his fists lightly. 

He wasn’t entirely sure what it was that he needed to do in order to treat the marks covering the majority of his back, this was beyond anything he’d ever had to deal with before, the bruises of a couple of weeks ago were easy to deal with in comparison. He wanted to have a bath, he wanted to wash away the grimy feeling that was taking over his blood and sweat covered body, but the thought of submerging the welts in water made him cringe, the burning he felt would surely multiple tenfold if he put his back through that. Unsure of what to do, he quickly scrubbed the sweat off his face and neck, the hot towel soothing him more than he was expecting then turned to return to his bedroom, deciding that his best bet would be to check on the internet, the last thing he wanted was to aggravate the marks or get an infection. He needed to sort this out by himself as quickly as possible. 

He gave one last fleeting glance over his shoulder to his back then made his way to the door, reaching his hand out to take hold of the handle, when it suddenly opened towards him, his father pushing it open from the other side. 

They both stopped, Kuroko gasped as he felt his eyes widen and then dropped his gaze instantly, not wanting to aggravate his father, his hand quickly snapping back to his chest. He heard a low rumble come from the man in front of him and his body tensed, the trembling in his arms and legs seemingly getting more severe with each agonising passing moment He dared not look up from his feet, and so let out a small yell of surprise when he was roughly pushed out of the way, stumbling slightly as he tried to keep his balance,

“Get out of my sight,” His father growled, making his way fully into the bathroom, “Don’t let me see you again today, do you hear me?” 

Cold, hard. It was a voice that Kuroko would never have believed could come out of his father’s mouth, and yet he had been hearing it every day lately. He nodded his head quickly, still not lifting his gaze from the tiles on the floor,

“Y-yes, I understand.” He managed to stutter out, fear gripping and grabbing at every fibre in his body. 

“And get a shirt on too while you’re at it, I don’t want to see that shit on your back.”

Kuroko felt his face flush, nodded his head once again and then excused himself, pulling the door closed behind him. 

He made his way back to his bedroom as quickly as his injuries would allow, and let out a shuddering breath, closing his door and leaning his forehead against the cool wood. Waves of nausea were making their way through his body and his head throbbed lightly. Fear was rushing through his veins, his heart hammering in his chest, the thumping loud in his ears.

He could almost feel his father slashing at his back again, the images vivid in his mind, slight tingles on the marred skin.  
He let out more uneven breaths, trying to calm his body down. His hands, which were pressed flat against the wooden door in front of him slowly slid to his sides, though his forehead remained in its place, warming the wood. 

It took a few moments of deep breathing, and hearing his father walk down the stairs to the kitchen, before he managed to calm himself. Once his heart returned to its steady rhythm he raised his head and slowly made his way over to his desk, gently bending to sit down in front of it. 

He turned on his computer and started his search, fingers trembling visible at the shock he had just had, frowning slightly as page after page advised him to seek medical attention for his injuries. He couldn’t do that. Doctors ask questions. There’s no way he’d get away with ignoring their questions when he back was in such a mess. The thought of admitting his failure to help his father made his stomach flip uneasily. No, he wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t.  
Ignoring the warnings and advice, he saw that the best thing for him to do is simply keep it clean and put a dressing over it. That, he could do.  
He looked over to the first aid box he’d brought up to his room with him the previous night, thankful to find that it had a large supply of bandages and plasters ready for him to use. He picked up the box, as well as a large t-shirt and once again made his way to the bathroom, straining his ears to listen to his father watching the television downstairs. 

Once in the safety of the bathroom, door securely locked behind him, he took off his pajama bottoms, placed the first aid supplies by the sink and then sat himself down in front of their shower. His heartbeat was starting to pick up its pace once again in anticipation of the pain he was shortly going to be in. He took in a couple of large breaths, failing to completely calm his nerves, then quickly turned the shower on before he could change his mind. 

He turned the dials several times, ensuring that the water was only lukewarm, then took in a gasp of air, slowly moving the shower head in the direction of his back.

Pain seared through him, the breath he had just taken in shot out with an anguished moan which he desperately tried to keep in. His eyes shut tightly, the hand not holding the showerhead was clenched tightly in his lap, knuckles pure white. He felt his eyes tearing up, his nose quick to run. Breathing in harshly, he clenched his teeth and returned the slow jet of water to his back. If he could only keep the water on him for a few torturous minutes, he would feel much better. He repeated it to himself, his hand shaking slightly as he maneuvered it to gently wash away the lines of blood and sweat covering him. 

Time passed by agonizingly slowly, but with each moment the stabbing pains on his back eased, grateful for the gentle, refreshing clean that Kuroko was giving them. A small sigh escaped his lips as he turned the water off, content that he’d washed away the grime that had caked itself on him. His aching muscles started to relax, his shoulders dropping from their tight tensed position up near his ears.

With great care, he eased himself to his feet, grabbing a towel and lightly patting his skin down with it, wanting it as dry as possible before attempting to cover it with cloth and clothing.

With a lot of straining, sharp pains and dull aches, he finally found his back completely covered with bandages. He’d had to wrap it around his whole torso due to the extent of cuts marking him and his inability to reach the raw cuts directly in the middle, but he decided that it was better for him to look like a half-finished mummy than keep his wounds out in the open. Sweat had once again started to surface on his forehead as he maneuvered his body into awkward positions in order to cover himself, which he wiped away with a cool cloth.

He gave his body a quick once-over, double checking that there were no visible marks or raw skin and once he was happy that he’d done a thorough job, he slowly pulled the large t-shirt over his head, hissing as his arms stretched, tugging at the bandages. He sighed slightly, quickly becoming aware of just how little he was going to be able to move over the upcoming days.

His stomach dropped instantly at that thought, remembering the important basketball game they had in less than a weeks’ time. There was absolutely no way he’d be fully healed by then, training was going to be difficult enough, if not entirely impossible. 

Angry tears welled up in his eyes and, frustrated at the position he’d managed to put himself in once again, he roughly brushed them away. He’d just have to stomach the pain, he couldn’t let anyone else down. He’d already failed his father, he wasn’t going to bring his team down too.

Returning to his room, his mind was full of worries over the coming days, his thoughts wandered to his best friend, who’d been rather more attentive lately much to Kuroko’s chagrin. He hated keeping things from his friend, especially one as close as Kagami was, but this secret was one he wouldn’t be able to share. Not now, not ever, and definitely not with him. 

He spent the rest of the day hidden in his room, not wanting to make any noise or provoke his father any further until later that evening when, stomach rumbling and feeling slightly lightheaded, he quietly padded his way downstairs for something to eat. 

Once downstairs, he was relieved to see that his father was nowhere to be seen, either he had gone up to bed or gone out, Kuroko wasn’t entirely sure. He quickly heated up some leftovers from the fridge and returned back upstairs, his stomach rumbling due to the smells coming from his meal. Once his stomach was full, he gently eased himself into bed, thankful that at least tonight he had something to cover the sores on his back. He closed his eyes, not realising the exhaustion he felt until he did so, and soon fell into a restless dream, dreading the upcoming week that stretched ahead of him. 

Like with all things you dread coming to pass, the following morning rolled around quickly. Before he knew it, Kuroko found himself laying on his side, eyes glaring at the alarm clock that flashed in his face, noisily letting him know that he needed to get up for school. The bright sunshine that was desperately trying to snake its way into Kuroko’s bedroom seemed to be mocking him, almost knowing that what he wanted most in the world was to stay in the comforting embrace of his quilt cover and the security he felt it gave him. He’d had another terrible night’s sleep, waking every few hours when his body tried to lie in positions his back couldn’t cope with. He’d wake, gasping and wincing, a sheen of sweat covering his clammy, pale skin, his heart hammering, seemingly desperate to work its way out of his chest. He’d then spend the following few minutes willing himself to fall asleep again, to calm his beating heart. He was tired, so very tired. 

He sighed, tightly closing his eyes shut momentarily, then forcibly willed himself up in one fell swoop.  
Pain seared his whole body, the aching muscles screaming in frustration at his sudden movements. He choked back a sob, and failed to calm the mad rhythm of his heart. His hands shook as he clumsily swept his fringe out of the sticky sweat on his forehead. He felt disgusting, desperate for another wash. However, knowing that he didn’t have as much time this morning as what would be needed to have a full shower, he decided that a quick wipe down was his best bet. 

As he made his way to his door, gingerly watching his steps, conscious of the noise he was making, he heard his father leave the house, slamming the front door behind him, relief flooded him. Grateful that he didn’t have to walk on eggshells whilst trying to get himself ready for school, he padded his way to the bathroom. 

He eyes widened as he removed his t-shirt. Blood had managed to soak into the bandages covering his body. The marks appeared to be old, slightly browning rather than fresh red, which Kuroko hoped meant that there were no open wounds. But the sight made him frown, he hadn’t expected that he’d have to change the bandages quite this quickly, he’d assumed they could have lasted until the end of the day.

Conscious of the tight schedule he had that morning, he quickly worked his arms around his body, unrolling the fabric with as much haste as he could without hurting the slightly weeping cuts. Once it was all removed, he filled the sink with lukewarm water, soaking a towel and then wringing it thoroughly. 

Turning round, he let out a small gasp of surprise and horror as his eyes locked on the mess of his back. They had taken a turn for the worse overnight, Kuroko knew that from just a quick glance. The marks were a severe red against the otherwise milky white skin of his back, and, although some of the smaller cuts looked to be working their way into scabs, the larger welts threatened to expel fluid down his back. He threw the towel back to the sink, spilling water over the side as it fell into the water, and removed his bottoms and underwear. He needed to wash his back again, a simple wipe down would probably make things worse.

Thankful that he had washed himself thoroughly the day before and thus knew the pain to expect when the water hit him, he sat himself down and turned on the taps, quick to spray it over the wounds once he had gotten the correct temperature. He let out a short breath at the initial shock that once again swept over him, but continued on with his cleaning. 

It only took him a few minutes to wash away the dried blood that had tattooed his back, but he soon found that wrapping himself was more of a struggle than the previous day. Although the scabs that were forming meant that they were trying to heal, they also restricted his movements all the more. As he twisted himself round, they tugged and pulled at his skin, further gasps and huffs escaping him involuntarily. After struggling for five gruelling minutes, he finally taped the last end of the bandages securely in place, his shoulders heaving up and down as he endeavoured to catch his breath. 

Knowing he’d spent a lot longer than he should have trying to get his wounds tied up, he quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face, then raced into his bedroom, letting out a yelp of surprise when he saw the time. 

Getting dressed as fast as his bandaged torso would allow, he padded down the stairs, thankful that he was able to wait until lunch time for some food due to his small appetite. He hurriedly put on his shoes and grabbed his bag, hoping that he hadn’t forgotten anything in his mad dash out of the front door, which he shut behind him with a bang.


	11. Getting Desperate.

Something was, once again, wrong with Kuroko, that much Kagami knew. What he didn’t know however, was what could possibly cause his best friend to come to school after the bell had already rung, sweat forming on his brow, skin a sickly white against the black of their uniform, gasping slightly as he gingerly sat down on his seat behind him. When questioned, he simply brushed Kagami’s question aside, busying himself with getting his things out of his bag. 

Kagami sighed loudly, turning back to face the front of the class. 

He thought back to the weekend. They had had a great day on Saturday, even with the copious amounts of studying they had gotten through, but his friend seemed to have regressed back to his mood of a couple of weeks ago, refusing to make any eye contact with Kagami, and barely speaking a word.

Kagami spent the morning wracking his brains trying to work out exactly what could be wrong with his best friend. His body tensed every so often when he heard a slight sigh or soft groan coming from the boy behind him. These weren’t noises he was used to hearing, and he wondered what it was that could be causing his friend to make such sounds. 

He had to leave Kuroko at lunchtime in order to take the retest in another classroom. Kuroko had quietly slipped out of the classroom, seemingly trying to do so without Kagami noticing, but he did and he quite clearly saw the strange way that Kuroko was holding himself. One pale hand was wrapping itself around his stomach, lightly pulling on the fabric to his side, it was almost as if he had severe stomach ache. The fact that Kuroko ate so little could be why he was acting strange, but Kagami wasn’t entirely convinced by his own reasoning. Kuroko had never really eaten much, it wasn’t likely that his body had just started to complain about it now, surely. 

Something else worried Kagami too. The way that Kuroko walked, his back at a funny angle, taking small steps and obviously trying to avoid coming into contact with anyone. It looked like he’d hurt himself somehow and didn’t want to bump or knock his body.

Kagami’s stomach dropped slightly at the thought. He’d hurt himself the other week too. Kuroko had said he had fallen down the stairs, his arm, back and stomach had had weird bruising on them. This was similar to then, only it seemed much, much worse.

A thousand different thoughts flashed through Kagami’s mind, was Kuroko hurting himself? Was he being bullied perhaps? 

Brows furrowing slightly, Kagami made his way to the test room, only when sat in front of the test paper did he momentarily forget about his worries and concentrate on the task at hand. 

An hour later, he made his way back to his classroom, relieved that the test had been a lot easier than he was expecting. He hadn’t even needed to use the lucky pencil that Kuroko had given to him a few days prior.

When he sat down at his desk, he shot a quick glance over his shoulder to his friend, who was sat taking a few small nibbles at the sandwich in his hand.

“Hey, Kuroko. That all you’re eatin’ today?” He asked, trying to coax a little conversation out of his quiet friend. He wanted to talk, he needed answers. 

“Mm,” The quiet reply came. If Kagami hadn’t been paying close attention, he may have missed it. His friend didn’t raise his gaze from the desk he was avidly staring at, nor did he make any further effort to elaborate.

“Er, listen Kuroko, um, if somethin’s wrong, ya know you can tell me about it, right?” He asked, not entirely sure of the best way to broach the subject.

“Yes, I appreciate that, Kagami-kun.” Came the short reply.

“So, er, do you, ya know, have anything? To talk about, I mean?” He cursed himself silently, knowing full well he sounded like a complete idiot and wasn’t likely to have the conversation steer in the direction he wanted it to.

“No, but thank you for the thought, Kagami-kun.” He stated, still not looking up, still barely louder than a whisper.

“I’m not an idiot, Kuroko.” Kagami said, he was quickly losing any patience with his friend but was desperately trying to keep his temper in check. He wanted to help his friend, not make things worse, but his own idiocies were making that a real challenge. “I know somethin’s wrong, for goodness sake, you look like you’re gonna pass out any minute, you won’t even look me in the eye. I can’t tell if you’re pissed at me or something else entirely. Not to mention the fact that you came to school late looking like you wanted to throw up all over your desk. Something’s wrong, and I want you to tell me what it is so that I can bloody help you!”

He was huffing slightly, angry at himself more than he was at Kuroko because of his careless words.

His eyes widened however, when he saw his friends pale fingers tremble slightly, the sandwich lightly pressed between them threatening to fall onto the desk.

Kuroko continued to refuse to look up. He shook his head slightly, then whispered.

“Please, Kagami-kun. Just leave it ok? There’s nothing wrong, I assure you.” 

“But Kuroko-“

“No, Kagami-kun, stop.” His voice was firmer, but the hands seemed to only tremble more, a piece of lettuce finally breaking free and diving to the table. “I have nothing to say to you right now, so just leave it.” 

The words were final, Kagami knew that. He hated that, once again, his friend didn’t want to let him in, wasn’t willing to let him help. He felt like a failure. 

He huffed.

“Alright. Fine. But the offer’s still open, ya know, like, whenever you wanna talk, ok?” He said, turning around and facing the pile of food he had still waiting to be devoured in front of him.

“Thank you.” The soft voice behind him said.

Kagami’s stomach felt heavy, his friend’s evasive behavior and sickly appearance were putting him on edge but he wasn’t sure what to do in order to fix it. He kept hearing slight sighs and the odd groan coming from his friend behind him, but, knowing that he wouldn’t get a straight answer even if he did, didn’t turn around and ask him what was wrong. 

The situation worsened later that day when Kagami made his way to the gym alone. Kuroko had disappeared as soon as the bell had rang, and Kagami couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Hey, anyone seem Kuroko?” He asked as he opened the changing room doors and took his usual seat to get changed.

Those already there looked at him, obviously confused by Kagami’s question.

“You two are always together, Kagami, if you don’t know where he is, I’m sure none of us know.” Kiyoshi replied with a chuckle.

Kagami’s brow furrowed once again, a deep set of wrinkles settling themselves between his two bushy eyebrows. 

He hasn’t gone home has he? Kagami thought to himself, worry making its way to his stomach, he’d have told me if he was, wouldn’t he?

His thoughts were interrupted a short while later as he made his way out to the courts, when he saw Kuroko make his way towards the changing rooms.

Kagami jogged over to his friend, confusion clear on his features.

Kuroko avoided looking into his eyes as Kagami stood in front of him.

“Where’ve you been?” He asked, hoping beyond anything to actually get a straight answer.

“I needed the toilet, Kagami-kun, I wasn’t aware that I needed to let you know beforehand.” His reply was curt, which, although Kagami was fairly used to with his friends usual bluntness, put him on edge.

“For this long?” He questioned, taking a quick peek at the clock on the wall and seeing that Kuroko had taken nearly fifteen minutes to get there.

Kuroko sighed slightly, then made to walk past Kagami, however Kagami put a hand on his shoulder, trying to explain that he hadn’t finished talking yet.

As soon as his hand made contact with his shoulder, Kuroko let out an awful moan, flinching away from his friends touch instantly. He shuddered slightly, breathing big, loud breaths.

“What the hell, Kuroko?!” Kagami exclaimed, already removing his hand from the light grip it had, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Kuroko flinched again at Kagami’s outburst, shrinking into himself. Kagami felt his heart clench. He hadn’t seen his friend look like this, ever. He was like a small child being scolded by a mean adult. His skin paled, sweat visibly collecting over his body, a tremor going through his appendages. It made Kagami feel sick slightly. What had he done to cause such a response from his friend? They’d never been overly fond of skinship, but Kuroko had never reacted this badly to his touch before. 

“Kuroko? Kuroko, what’s wrong?” He took a step towards him, his hands reaching out to his friend, but Kuroko just shook his head, gripping his bag tightly with white knuckles showing. He was just about to stutter out a reply when Kagami heard their coach shouting them, he turned to tell her they would be out shortly and when he returned his gaze back round to his friend, saw that he’d already gone.

He swore loudly, and jogged over to their coach.

“Did you see where Kuroko went?” He asked quickly, hoping to catch up with him. 

“No, I didn’t. I assume he’s gone to get changed.” She replied, already turning her attention to the clipboard she had in her hands, “Get warmed up, Kagami, it’s a tough afternoon of training today.”

Kagami was torn, he desperately wanted to go after Kuroko, though he had absolutely no idea where he’d run off to, but the stern look from Riko told him that he needed to stay and get warmed up.

Riko huffed slightly, seeing the odd expression on his face.

“Seriously, I don’t know what is up with you two lately, but you better not let it get in the way of the game on Saturday, I need you both completely focused on beating Midorima!” She said, lightly tapping Kagami on the arm with the clipboard in her grasp. Seeing that Kagami clearly wasn’t listening to her, she let out another huff, “I’ll go look for him, you get yourself out there and run a few laps. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Kagami went to argue, but Riko glared at him, then stalked off towards the changing rooms, and hopefully towards Kuroko. Kagami turned, still feeling uneasy about what he’d just seen from Kuroko, but made his way to the courts nonetheless.

Riko returned before Kagami had even managed to do one lap around the gym, shaking her head. 

“I found him, Kagami,” She called over to him, “He’s not feeling well again so I sent him home. He was looking a bit peaky to be honest, so I told him to get home, get some food down him and go to bed.”

Kagami’s stomach dropped. Kuroko running off from practice was simply unheard of. He’d already missed a few training sessions this month and Kagami could clearly see how much it pained Kuroko every time he had to sit on the sidelines watching his teammates practice. Something was definitely wrong. 

Seeing the unease on Kagami’s face, Riko sighed.

“It’s fine, Kagami. He told me he’d be fine by Saturday, he’s just got a mild stomach bug.” She said. Kagami still looked worried as she pushed him towards their teammates. “Seriously, its fine. You just need to get yourself back on the courts and practice. I can’t have both of you slacking can I?”

Kagami went to stand with the rest of his Seirin teammates, ready to get started with another taxing practice, but his thoughts were still on Kuroko, on the almost frightened expression he had shown when Kagami had touched him. His stomach did uneasy flips, a lump forming in his throat. 

The rest of the week passed by quickly, Kagami tried several times to talk with Kuroko, but all efforts were futile. Kuroko had seemingly closed himself off completely and wouldn’t make any eye contact with him at all. During lunches and breaks, Kagami could just see the flash of blue as Kuroko left the classroom without a word.

The nervous somersaults in Kagami’s stomach seemed to only get worse as the week progressed, each day harsher than the last when he saw his friend’s physical condition seem to worsen. By Friday afternoon, Kuroko’s skin looked almost translucent, his dark veins obvious beneath his pallor. There were dark bags under his eyes, the edges of which were constantly red. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in over a week. 

He spoke to their coach several times over the course of the week and, although she shared Kagami’s worry, she assured him that Kuroko had said he was fine.

“Look, Kagami, I know.” She said after he’d come to her for the fourth time, “I know it’s worrying, he looks pretty horrendous, but he said he’s just not sleeping well. I told him he won’t be in the starting line-up for the match tomorrow, but he practically begged me to let him play for at least a bit of it. We’ve just got to trust that he knows what he’s doing. Trust me, I don’t like this anymore than you do, but we can’t not have him play at all, we need him.”

She had lightly patted him on the shoulder after that, leaving him to worry over his friend.


	12. Court Disagreements.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’d think that I’d have realised at some point when starting this fic that I’d probably have to write a basketball game, you know, what with it being called Kuroko no _Basuke_ and all, but my goodness, I didn’t realise just how difficult it would be! The reason the update took so long was because I literally wrote this chapter out (completely) three separate times, the end result being the best of a bad bunch. I have decided that I will never again write such abysmal drivel (so be thankful for that) and I apologise profusely that you’re having to read it now. Rest assured, we’re finally, FINALLY getting to the good bits (wooooo, go Kagami, woooooooo go Aomine!) so, bear with me and once again THANK YOU for taking the time to read my work, the comments left on the previous few chapters have definitely been spurring me on and stopping me from completely ripping all of my hair out. Thank you, thank you! Finally, the next chapter should be with you soon. Not started it yet but i've got so many notes here and there, that it should be pretty easy to get through quickly. So, thanks again, and enjoy!

The following morning came round quickly and Kagami soon found himself in the changing rooms getting ready for their match against Shutoku. Kuroko, still looking deathly pale and more than a little nervous, was sat in his usual spot next to him, though he was making no effort to join in any conversation, no matter how much Kagami attempted to coax him. 

Signalling that they needed to get out onto the court, Kagami got up to follow Riko along with the rest of the team, Kuroko trailing sluggishly behind. 

Kagami frowned seeing the obvious struggling that Kuroko was currently going through simply walking to their bench. He rushed up ahead to speak with their coach,

“Erm, hey, so, Kuroko doesn’t seem to be doing too good, ya know?” He whispered, not wanting any of his team mates to know what he was talking about, “Should he really be playing at all?”

The worry in his voice was obvious, and Riko sighed, bringing a hand up to rub at her temple.

“Look, I know he looks pretty bad, but he asked to be in the starting lineup, and I’ve just gotta trust him.” She replied, “But don’t worry, I’ll be keeping a close eye on him. I’ll take him off the minute he looks like he’s struggling ok? Just leave it to me.”

She gave him a quick pat on the arm, then went ahead, busying herself with the setting out the drinks bottles and medical supplies they may need during the match.

Kagami let out a low huff, absent-mindedly scratching the back of his head. He had a weird feeling in his stomach and he didn’t like it at all, the worsening state of Kuroko’s complexion only making him more uneasy. 

As they sat down, Kuroko looked up and saw the obviously worried expression on Kagami’s face and a slight frown set on his lips, his brows furrowing slightly.

“I’m fine, Kagami-kun.” He said firmly, though Kagami couldn’t hear the usual clear conviction with which Kuroko spoke. Kuroko then swiftly returned his gaze downwards, where he fiddled slightly with the sweatband on his wrist.

Kagami went to say something further, but was quickly interrupted by their captain, who had called all the players to huddle up.

“Right, first proper game of the year, so it’s gonna be tough. Just remember that we beat them last year and there’s no way we’re letting that carrot beat us today!” Hyuga said as he looked at each of his team members in turn. They all returned his gaze, nodding in agreement as the starting whistle went off signaling the players to line up. 

Patting Kagami on the back, Kiyoshi strode to the court with a wide smile on his face. 

“Let’s have some fun, right Kagami?”

Despite the unease bubbling in his stomach, he couldn’t help but return his Senpai’s infectious smile as he made his way to line up. 

“Let’s have a good game!” All of the members on the court shouted as they bowed, soon dispersing throughout their halves of the court. 

The ball swiftly made its way into the air and Kagami managed to swipe it from its highest peak, passing it straight into the waiting hands of Izuki, landing heavily on the floor he quickly made his way to their basket, keeping his eye on the balls progress through his team mates passes.

He soon saw the ball coming towards him, but knew that Midorima was swiftly behind him, choosing to pass it to Hyuga instead, who quickly straightened himself then made the shot, the ball flying straight through their basket flawlessly.

Watching Kiyoshi slap Hyuga happily on the back, Kagami felt the familiar leap in his chest and a smile rose to his lips, thankful that they’d managed to get the first three points of the game.

His elation was short lived however, when Takao received the ball straight after it’s decent through their hoop, swiftly passing it to Midorima who was fast to return the favour in spectacular fashion, basketing the ball from the complete opposite side of the court.

Kagami swore, mopping away the sweat that was fast gathering on his brow. 

He made his way to Shutoku’s basket, hearing Takao talking loudly to Kuroko, whose face had a poorly disguised grimace settled across it.

“Not your usual self today, eh Kuroko-kun?” Takao said, standing close to his pale mark, a permanent grin spread across his lips. 

Kagami saw Kuroko purse his lips slightly out of the corner of his eye but didn’t hear his reply. Kagami sighed, agreeing with Takao completely. Although Kuroko was actively going for the ball just as he would during any other game, his body was slightly stiffened, his movements were jerky. Kagami glanced once more over his shoulder and could see Kuroko go to intercept the ball, barely managing to get past Takao and his hawkeye. 

Kagami felt an involuntary gasp escape his lips as he watched Kuroko. Just as his hand outstretched, his body twisting slightly to redirect the ball to Hyuga, his whole body jerked with apparent pain. The ball was quickly taken by a member of Shutoku that Kagami didn’t recognize, but his gaze stayed on his team mate. 

Kuroko’s hand was tightly grasping his side, sweat dripping down his face visibly, his eyes wide as he fought to calm himself.

Kagami’s whole body tensed and he felt his stomach drop, rushing over to Kuroko, a hand reaching out to help his friend. 

Kuroko flinched away from Kagami’s hand, taking a step back, panting slightly.

Kagami brought his hand back to himself, confusion evident on his face. 

“I-I’m fine, Kagami-kun.” He panted, and swiftly moving away before Kagami could question him.

The uneasy lolling in Kagami’s stomach was gathering pace, twisting his gut violently. Kuroko shouldn’t be playing at all. He looked over to their bench with the intention of shouting Riko, and met Midorima’s gaze as he turned. Midorima had a frown on his face at the exchange between Kagami and his teammate, but said nothing further, jogging away to his end of the court. 

Kagami himself jogged over to Riko, 

“Coach, Kuroko’s not looking good,” He said quickly, “Don’t you think you should switch him out?”

She sighed at him, worry obvious on her features too. 

“There’s only a few minutes left of this quarter, I need you to at least get a couple more baskets before I pull him out, I’m sorry Kagami.” 

He huffed, but quickly turned back to the game, wanting to score a couple of times to alleviate the pressure that Kuroko obviously felt he was under. 

They managed to score another 7 points before the whistle signaling the end of the first quarter went off and, relieved to finally get Kuroko on the bench, Kagami returned to his teammates. 

Kuroko was obviously worn out, taking in large gulps of water and wincing slightly between shuddering breaths. All of the team were looking at him with worried expressions, but he kept his gaze turned down, refusing to make eye contact. 

Riko walked up to Kuroko, crossing her arms as she stood in front of his small frame.

“Kuroko, you’re on the bench.” She said

He looked up quickly, a shocked expression on his face, the corners of his mouth downturned,

“Please, let me stay on just a little longer. I’m fine.” He let out quickly, going to stand up.

Riko gave him a dubious look

“Please, I’m fine. I’ll be fine until half time.” He was practically begging, his voice pleading.

Sighing, Riko brought her hands up in front of her, as if to shield herself,

“Ok, ok. Calm down. Ten more minutes.” She agreed, “But that’s it. Don’t let me down!”

“Y-yes, thank you coach.” Relief flooded his features as he returned to his sitting position, taking slower, smaller sips of his water.

“Right guys, we’re still behind, we really need to take this next quarter otherwise we’re jeopardizing our chances here.” She said, look each individual team member, “The Winter Cup proved we were the best in Japan a few short months ago, so lets show them what we’ve got!”

With everyones spirits lifted slightly, pumped up and ready to go, they all made their way back onto the court. 

The second quarter began with a series of Seirin’s signature fast paced passes, Kuroko managing to send the opposition into chaos with his misdirection and assisting the first two baskets they managed to make in quick succession. 

Kagami smiled to himself, the churning in his gut easing slightly, hoping that Kuroko was just struggling a bit during the first quarter. He looked like he was doing a lot better now. He sighed slightly in relief then made his way to their hoop, ready to drunk another basket. 

They continued their rally against Shutoku, managing to stay close to their tails for the next five minutes. They were behind, but only just, and this thought helped Seirin to push themselves further, wanting to remind everyone just how well they can work together as a team. 

The newer players on Shutoku’s side were being easily outdone by the seamless moves of their opposition, however Takao and Midorima were also showing their excellent and honed team work with a series of their own passes, several of which were impossible for Seirin to even try to block. It wasn’t long before both sides were huffing heavily, both feeling pretty evenly matched.

Kuroko was actively passing, though it was clear he was itching to do a vanishing drive, something he had thus far avoided in their match. 

Seeing this, Kagami got in position near their hoop, ready to receive the ball midair once Kuroko had gotten past Midorima.

Kagami saw Kuroko take his stance, ready to receive the ball from Izuki, taking it in both hands. His facial expression was one of pure concentration as he found himself in front of the towering body of Midorima. Kagami then heard the green haired player speak with Kuroko, something that very rarely happened, much less in the middle of a match.

“You won’t be getting passed me this time, Kuroko.” He said, with his usual blunt speech, “You’re stance is wrong, I’ll easily stop you.”

It was clear he wasn’t bragging when Kagami took a closer look at his friend’s position and the weird way that he was holding himself, his back in an obviously uncomfortable position. 

“We’ll see, Midorima-kun.” Kuroko replied in his monotone fashion, pulling his body stiffly down ready for the drive. 

He moved, successfully driving forward passed his mark before Midorima could react and Kagami could feel his body moving of its own accord, ready to get himself in prime position to reach the ball when he felt his eyes widen.

Kuroko fell to his knees with a loud yelp, the ball falling from his grasp as his hands slapped against the polished floor, quickly being stolen by a member of Shutoku that Kagami could only vaguely recognize. His whole body was shaking and he made no obvious move to pick himself back up. 

Kagami rushed over, pulling Kuroko up by one hand and wrapping an arm around his back. At his touch, Kuroko’s breathing turned harsher, trying to push Kagami away from him. 

His top started to ride up slightly with his efforts and, confused, Kagami saw that his body was wrapped tightly with bandages. His eyes widened, unable to tear his gaze away.

“Kuroko? W-wha-?” 

Kuroko looked mortified, quickly yanking his shirt back down and finally succeeding in breaking away from Kagami’s grasp.

“It’s nothing, Kagami-kun.” He said, shaking his head and coughing slightly.

“That’s not nothing!” Kagami fumed, feeling his temper rising quickly due to the confusion he felt. Several thoughts were running through his mind as he stalked to Kuroko;s side, his hand outstretched and wanting a further look at the fabric covering his friends torso.

Kuroko was visibly shaking as he retreated backwards, wanting to avoid his best friends hand as it came towards his stomach.

“Leave it, please Kagami-kun.” He whispered.

The rest of the players on the court were starting to take notice of the fact that neither Kuroko, Kagami nor Midorima were actively chasing the ball, and Kuroko looked round at them quickly, panic evident on all of his features.

Midorima stepped forward, a long arm pulling Kagami’s back from its position on the hem of Kuroko’s shirt.

“Perhaps this isn’t the best time to be doing this,” He said, “It appears we have an audience.”

Kagami had a quick glance around them, seeing that the gazes of most of his teammates were on the three of them and removing his hand, bringing it back to his side with his fist clenched tightly.

He turned his gaze back to Kuroko, whose complexion had paled significantly. His breathing still hadn’t completely evened out and his arm continued to lightly hold his side, his face grimacing.

“Kuroko,” Kagami said as he walked closer to his friend, this time keeping his hand at his side, “Seriously, I need to know what’s up. What the hell are all those bandages for? You can barely stay standing!” 

“Kagami-kun, please leave it.” He whimpered in reply, the fear evident in his voice. “It does not concern you.”

“Doesn’t concern me?!” Kagami could feel the anger coming back at Kuroko;s ridiculous statement, a twinge appearing in his heart momentarily at his friends words. “I’m your best friend, Kuroko. I should know when you’ve hurt yourself badly enough to need that kind of treatment!”

The whistle blew, signaling a member change and everyone looked over to the Seirin bench to see Riko standing next to Mitobe, the latter readying himself to go into the court.

“Kuroko, come and sit down here.” She called over to him. 

Giving a quick startled glance at Kagami, Kuroko made his way over to their teams bench as fast as his injuries would allow. Kagami trailed closely behind, his anger continually building. At this point, he couldn’t differentiate between the anger he had at himself or the anger at Kuroko and his stubborn refusal to allow any help. He was about to follow Kuroko all the way to the bench but Riko blocked his path with her arm once he’d reached her.

“Kagami, leave it. I need you to get back on that court and win this game. You can talk to Kuroko afterwards, ok?” Her voice was stern, but Kagami ignored her.

“This is a bit more important than a fucking basketball game, coach!” He practically shouted the words, his voice traveling easily in the large room. Kuroko blanched at his words and he heard Riko let out a slight gasp.

“I am well aware of that, but this isn’t the time or place, and surely you can see that Kuroko doesn’t want to talk about this at the moment. Now get back on that court, win that game and then we’ll talk, do I make myself clear?” She roughly pushed him in the direction of the court but his gaze was locked on Kuroko’s. He nodded his agreement with the coach and Kagami felt his stomach tighten.

“Fine. I’ll go. But you aren’t leaving until we’ve had a chat, Kuroko. I mean it.” Kagami spoke to Kuroko in a way that left no room for argument and, sighing quietly as he dropped his gaze, Kuroko found himself nodding.

Satisfied with the reaction he had from Kuroko, Kagami made his way back onto the court, hoping that the next twenty minutes would go by quickly. 

It was clear that Kagami’s mind was elsewhere however, and with the lack of Kuroko on their side, Seirin soon found the gap between their score and Shutoku’s widening significantly, and quickly.

The match ended with Shutoku’s overwhelming victory, though neither side seemed satisfied with the result. 

Midorima and Takao left with the promise of a rematch in the future to settle the score properly as Kagami stormed his way back to the Seirin bench, adamant that he needed to stay by Kuroko’s side to stop him from leaving before they had a talk.


	13. Disturbing Discoveries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter (and the one to follow), and I hope you enjoy reading it. I can't actually believe it but I hit the 100 kudos mark with the last chapter which is just insane, so thank you to everyone that was kind enough to leave me some! Anyways, just got a couple of bits of straightening out on the next chapter so that should be uploaded tomorrow, so look forward to that, but in the mean time, I hope you enjoy this, please let me know what you think by leaving me comments, any construstive criticism is always welcome (and will help me improve my writing, which can only be a good thing, right?). Thanks again, and enjoy!

“Right,” Riko said with a sigh, standing before the team, disappointment at their loss evident in her voice, “Get yourselves in the changing room everyone.”

The team quietly made their way back to their changing room, Kuroko reluctantly with the help of Kagami, who was still unwilling to let the pale boy out of his sight. It was a bitter loss for them all, but no one made a comment when they could clearly see how much Kuroko was struggling and how frustrated Kagami seemed to be. They were curious about the situation, none of them had heard the twos conversation earlier on the court, but were close enough to the pair to know that if they wanted to share it they would and so didn’t pry any further. 

Once everyone had returned to the changing rooms, some immediately starting to get changed whilst others sat down panting slightly, attempting to cool down before getting dressed, Riko cleared her throat and stood in front of them all.

“Right,” She said, arms folded, a crease quickly forming between her brows, “Today was disappointing, I know. It’s definitely not the way we wanted the first game of the year to go. We have to be grateful then that this was luckily not an important one in the long run. We need to learn from our mistakes here, guys. Expect training from hell from now on, and you’ve only got yourselves to blame. I won’t allow this to happen again, ok?”

Harsh words, but it was clear the team needed to hear it as they murmured their agreements and busied themselves getting ready. 

Kagami and Kuroko changed in silence, neither one wanting to talk until they had the others undivided attention. Once both of them were fully clothed, they picked up their belongings and made their way outside. 

Kagami cleared his throat, suggesting they go and get something to eat while they talk. Kuroko simply nodded. He had no intention of eating, he hadn’t had anything substantial for a few days now and barely felt the need to anymore. His stomach no longer pleaded with him, the anxiety and fear he constantly had nestled in his stomach kept him full enough. 

A short while later, they found themselves in their usual spot, at their usual restaurant, with their usual orders, but the two boys sat awkwardly in silence for several minutes, not knowing where to begin.

It was Kuroko that ended the silence.

“Kagami-kun, I don’t…I don’t wish to speak about this in front of anyone else.” He said quietly, glancing around at the few people sat near their booth before returning him gaze to the slightly sticky table at which they sat. “Is there somewhere else we could go instead, somewhere a little more private?”

He looked completely broken, resigned to the fact that he would soon be letting Kagami in on the one secret he desperately wanted to keep to himself. His eyes were downcast, the corners of his mouth curving south, a light crease nestled between his two pale eyebrows. It made Kagami want to wrap him in a tight embrace and reassure him that everything would be ok, but he didn’t. Instead, he picked up one of the burgers from the small pile in front of him and took a bite, the meat seemingly turning to sawdust the more he chewed. 

“Mm, that’s fine.” He reassured his friend around a mouthful of the burger, “Drink up and we’ll head back to my place. No-one’s gonna disturb us there, ya know?”

Kuroko nodded in understanding and gently took hold of the drink in front of him, no real intention to take a sip, his slim fingers trembling slightly against the cold condensation on the side of the cup. His stomach was doing violent flips and he was convinced that should he take even the smallest of drinks, it would swiftly come back up. He closed his eyes briefly, listening to the noises of those around him, marvelling at the fact that everyone was laughing and joking, talking about their favourite television shows or the latest celebrity gossip as he was sat there, his whole world threatening to crumble around him. He felt isolated. Completely alone in the midst of the busy restaurant. 

Kagami’s gaze never left the shaking figure in front of him, resisting the urge to take one of the small hands in his own, he tightly gripped a burger wrapping in his fist, knuckles turning white as he did so. His usually endless hunger was non-existent, replaced instead with slight nausea as he stared at the greasy mixture of meat and cheese, and he soon discarded the remaining few burgers he had yet to eat, his need to get Kuroko home and find out the truth more important than replenishing the calories he had managed to lose whilst playing basketball. He stood up, causing Kuroko’s shoulders to jerk slightly at the sudden movement. Kagami felt himself frowning slightly, almost nervous about going home and hearing what Kuroko had to say, knowing it would be horrendous with the way his friend was currently acting. Realising that they were finally leaving, Kuroko disposed of his milkshake, nausea settling in his stomach. He had to keep reminding his legs how to work, the tremors and shakes that were making their way through them restricting his movements. 

They walked slowly in silence, a thousand thoughts running through Kagami’s mind, causing a slight headache to settle in his temple. Looking down at his friend however, who almost seemed like a lost puppy with the way he was obediently, albeit reluctantly, keeping pace, gave Kagami renewed determination to do everything in his power to help.

They reached his apartment a short while later and Kagami could see a sheen of sweat covering his friends face and knew it had nothing to do with the walk they’d just done. He’d looked progressively worse the closer to the house they got and Kagami realised just how nervous his friend was. He gently placed a hand on Kuroko’s arm as he went past him into the house, giving him what Kagami hoped was an encouraging squeeze. Kuroko looked up at Kagami at the touch, and a small ghost of a smile played on his lips for a split second before being replaced once again with the hard line his mouth had been set in since leaving Maji. 

“Er, get yourself comfy, ok?” Kagami said to Kuroko as they made their way into the living area after removing their shoes and discarding their bags, Kuroko shuffling quietly behind him. Kagami could feel the butterflies in his stomach increasing the tempo of their fluttering and knew that Kuroko probably felt ten times worse.

Kuroko nodded in understanding, leaving Kagami and easing himself onto the sofa, hands tightly held together in his lap, a slight tremble going through his whole body. 

Kagami quickly went to the kitchen to put the kettle on, hoping that a warm cup of tea would help to settle both of their stomachs and nerves. 

A couple of minutes later, he returned to the living area holding two steaming cups of tea, placing them carefully on the coasters in front of them and sitting himself down next to Kuroko. 

He cleared his throat, and Kuroko flinched, anticipating the next words that would be spoken.

“Kuroko, please.” Kagami softly spoke in a voice Kuroko wasn’t used to hearing, a hand reaching out to hold the pale fingers that were clasped in a tight ball on Kuroko’s lap. “What’s happened? I’ll help you, I can help.”

Kuroko let out a long shuddering breath, bracing himself slightly, desperately torn between wanting to unload all of the fear and worries he had built up inside him and running out of the room without a backward glance, never to be seen again. He closed his eyes tightly, the words he wanted to say melting on his tongue before he could even get them out. He inhaled deep, steadying breaths, keeping his gaze locked on his and Kagami’s entwined fingers and whispered, his voice so faint Kagami had to strain to hear.

“I-its, ah, I’m,” He struggled to get his words out, a flustered blush erupting on his pale cheekbones, “I’m, I’ve been… er-“

“Take your time, Kuroko.” Kagami reassured, his large, warm hands giving a gentle pulse of encouragement straight to Kuroko’s veins. “I’m not going anywhere, ya know? Take as long as you want, I’m listening.”

Kuroko could feel tears spring into his eyes. Annoyed at the weakness he was showing after a couple of sweet words from Kagami, he shook his head and cleared his throat, deciding to get it out in one fell swoop. 

“I’ve been hurt.” He said clearly, not wanting to repeat himself should Kagami mishear. “Someone hurt me.”

Silence followed as Kagami’s brain worked overtime processing the information, his grasp on Kuroko’s hand tightened significantly, making the latter wince slightly at the grip.

“Someone…hurt you?” Kagami managed to choke out the words, he was feeling oddly lightheaded, his stomach dropping, a cold sweat erupting over him as if ice water had been unceremoniously chucked over him. His heart made several irregular beats, clenching tightly in his chest. “What? Why woul-? How did they-? Who would...What?”

He struggled to get his questions out, wanting to know everything and nothing all at once. Kuroko had the odd urge to laugh, thinking that Kagami’s lack of ability to form a coherent sentence could almost be comical if it wasn’t so gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking. Instead he sat in silence watching a slew of emotions wash over Kagami’s face. Confusion. Sadness. Anger.

Ah, anger was the emotion that stayed fixed in the hard line of his mouth, the dip of his eyebrows. Kuroko had been expecting it. Had known that Kagami’s lack of understanding and inherent need to mother Kuroko would cause him to become frustrated. Kuroko still said nothing, waiting for his partner to comprehend the situation by himself.

After a few laboured breaths, Kagami managed to work out the question he wanted to ask first. His hand gripping Kuroko’s tighter than what was comfortable, he looked up into Kuroko’s eyes.

“Kuroko?” He said, visibly straining to keep his voice, and temper, level. “Who did? Who hurt you?”

Kuroko shook his head slightly, knowing that his answer would not be one to satisfy Kagami’s curiosity.

“I-I can’t say, Kagami-kun. That is the one thing I cannot tell you.” He looked into his friends eyes, his expression silently pleading him to understand. “I’m sorry.”

As expected, Kagami was unimpressed. His grasp tightened momentarily, then relaxed slightly, as he let out a harsh breath. Steady, steady.

“Ok.” He replied, knowing that he had a few questions to get through and not wanting Kuroko to close up before he had managed to get any answers out of him. 

“Ok, fine. We’ll come back to that one then.”

Kuroko nodded, averting his gaze, knowing fully that he had no intention of ever uttering the words Kagami wanted to hear. He was hurting his father enough just by admitting this much. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, betray him further than this.

Another deep breath signaled Kagami’s next words.

“If…if you can’t tell me who, at least tell me how.” His voice shook slightly, despite his efforts to sound firm, unmoving and in control. “Can you tell me how they hurt you, Kuroko?”

A shiver ran through Kuroko’s whole body as visions of his father’s hands, his belt…the anger in his eyes, all flashed through his mind. Bile rising quickly up his esophagus. He swallowed hard, forcing it down, burning his throat. 

Feigning indifference, trying to cover his face in the mask he usually wore so perfectly, he spoke.

“It was nothing, barely anything Kagami-kun.” He could tell easily himself just how fake the words spewing from his mouth sounded, but hoped Kagami couldn’t. Kagami had to believe him, for both their sakes. “A few slaps, nothing serious. You’re over-reacting, as usual, Kagami-kun.”

The frown set between Kagami’s eyebrows deepened.

“Nothing serious?” He echoed. Disbelief evident in the rising volume of his voice. “”Nothing serious” doesn’t force you to cover your stomach with what looks to be a pharmacies worth of bandages, Kuroko. And it definitely doesn’t make people act the way you have been lately, you’ve been like a completely different person.” 

Kuroko lowered his gaze, ashamed of himself for not having hid the extent of his injuries better. From the way Kagami was speaking, it was clear that he wouldn’t be letting this question slide as easily as the last. 

“I-it’s not as bad as what you’re making it out to be, Kagami-kun.” He said, almost as if convincing himself of the fact.

“Just show me, Kuroko, please.” Kagami pleaded, giving a brief squeeze to the small hands in his grasp. “I’m worried about you Kuroko. Please?”  
It came rushing through his body out of no-where. Panic. And Dread. It was starting to bubble away in Kuroko, working its way through his body, through his veins and settling harshly in his stomach. The bile he forced down earlier once again threatening to appear. His breathing started coming out in short pants, his head dizzying at the lack of oxygen his gasps were allowing him.

“I-its n-nothing, K-kagami-kun.” His voice mixed with a tinge of hysteria. If he showed Kagami…showed him the marks he’d know. He’d be furious. He didn’t want Kagami to be angry. People did terrible things when they were angry. 

His hands clenching into tight fists, his nails stabbing into his palms and breaking skin. He could feel the warm droplets of blood mix with the slick sweat covering his hands. 

He shook his head, his whole body trembling. 

Kagami can’t get angry. Why did he keep making people angry?

“I-I’m s-sor-“

Kagami pulled the boy towards him, cutting him off mid-sentence. 

“Shhh, Kuroko, shhh. Calm down.” He went to rub his hand down Kuroko’s back but remembered himself last minute, remembered the bandages and the unknown marks they concealed. Instead, he ran his hands soothingly up and down Kuroko’s pale arms. He could see no marks on them, and hoped that his touch caused no pain to the trembling body in his embrace. “It’s ok. It’s ok, Kuroko. Deep breaths, take your time. Calm down”

His mantra, his soothing words, his light strokes to Kuroko’s goose pimpled skin. Kuroko closed his eyes to it all, trying to concentrate on each individual action. His breathing slowly returning to normal, the trembling slowly morphing to intermittent shudders. 

Kagami continued his comforting until Kuroko’s tears and gasps stopped and the pale boy lifted his head, hiccupping gently, the noise pulling straight at Kagami’s heart and prickling the back of his eyes. 

“Kuroko, I don’t want to upset you and I’m definitely not going to force you ok? I promise I’m not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do,” His voice was soft and gentle, reassuring to Kuroko, “However, I need to know the extent of your injuries ok? It’ll help me to help you.” 

Kuroko, still unsure, still scared of making his best friend angry, disappointed, shook his head slightly, doubt clear in his downcast eyes, his slumped shoulders.

“It’ll help me if I know the extent of what I’m working with here, Kuroko.” He said, his voice was now barely above a whisper and it was pulling away Kuroko’s doubt, slowly picking away at the wall Kuroko had hastily built around himself. “I won’t judge you, Kuroko. I only mean to help. I want to make you better, ok?”

The remaining few bricks of the wall crumbled and Kuroko closed his eyes. His breathing was starting to quicken but he forced himself to take a couple of steadying breaths. A few bated breaths later and he nodded slightly, a movement Kagami would have missed had he not been looking at Kuroko with such fierce intensity.

The seemingly fragile boy extracted himself slowly from Kagami’s comforting embrace and went to stand in front of him, a shiver running through his body as his friend’s warm hands left his skin.

He lightly fingered the hem of his shirt, biting his lip to the point the skin threatened to break, sweat starting to cover his forehead, his neck and the bandages of his back. He felt dirty and wanted nothing more than to have a shower and go to bed, but he persevered, willing his arms to move and finally let Kagami in on the secret he so desperately wanted to hide.

He pulled the shirt up over his head, wincing and gasping slightly as the movements pulled at the marks covering his back and the newly formed bruising spattering his stomach.

He brought his hands up, his fingers trembling, and began to unravel the bandages that enveloped him. He dared not look at Kagami, but could see his wide eyes and the tense set of his jaw in his peripheral vision.

Kagami could barely breathe as he watched the almost child-like body in front of him. His heart was breaking with every inch of skin that started to peak through the many bandages. He could make out purples and blues, yellows and browns, the odd spattering of red. A few spots of dark brown stained the bandages that had fit snuggly against Kuroko’s back and Kagami felt bile rise in his throat, his eyes watering. 

_Blood? Why was there…blood?_

As the last of the bandages was removed from the small frame and flittered to the floor in a small pile, Kuroko stood still, his arms trembling at his sides, his eyes shut tightly, wrinkles forming deep ridges around them. He dared not look up, but shook when he heard the anguished noise that came from his partner. The noise close to that of a wounded animal. Kuroko’s heart clenched and he grit his teeth, feeling wetness form in the corners of his eyes.

_“Kuroko...”_


	14. Taking Care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh, this is the longest chapter I've written so far! I hope everyone enjoys it, thanks again for your support/kudos/kind words & please let me know what you think. Thank you very much!

The sound of his name, barely above a whisper, caused him to look up into the eyes of his best friend, and he knew that the face he saw would haunt him alongside the many expressions of his father’s. It was a face that Kuroko wouldn’t expect to see taking over his friends even in his worst nightmares and he felt his world crumble around him. His heart did a trio of uneven beats and he tightly closed his eyes again, wishing he hadn’t seen the look on Kagami’s face. 

Kagami was a broken man. He knew that as soon as his eyes traveled over the slight body of his best friend. The creamy white skin that he had seen hundreds of times before had been massacred. Marred by bruising. 

He stood up instinctively, not fully understanding what he was doing as he made his way to his friend, arms outstretched. His fingers lightly brushed over a particularly dark bruise near his ribs and Kuroko let out a gasp, his eyes flying open, looking up with wide-eyed fear.

Kagami removed his fingers, curling them away into a loose fist, but stayed closely in front of his shorter friend. 

His eyes moved over the body, mapping out the bruises. Pale purples, dark blues, sickly yellows. They were all at different stages of healing. Kagami had had enough knocks and bumps in his time to know that these hadn’t been made at the same time, this was days’ worth of work. 

His stomach clenched and he brought a hand up to his mouth as if expecting vomit to escape him. He managed to swallow down the rising sick and closed his eyes, desperately trying to gather his thoughts as the image of Kuroko’s body sat imprinted on the back of his eyelids.

“The…er…the blood, Kuroko.” He managed to speak as he remembered the stains adorning the bandages Kuroko had just removed, the words tumbling out of his mouth, his eyes slowly opening. “Show me… where the blood came from.”

Kuroko nodded slowly. His face one of grim defeat as he turned on the spot, his head lowering at the shame he felt pulsing through him.

A pause. A gasp. Another anguished moan.

Kuroko braced himself, felt his muscles contract, knowing that fingers would likely be brushing across the many marks on him. Knowing that, despite knowing he shouldn’t, Kagami would instinctively go to feel them as if to convince himself that they were real. 

Kagami wasn’t one to cry. Even in the most desperate of times he berated himself for showing weakness by letting tears flow, but now he did, and he made no effort or movement to stem the flow. Fat, silent tears rolled their way down his cheeks as he took in the horror that stood before him. 

He’d never seen anything like it. Never imagined that such a thing was possible. In movies maybe, but not in real life, not to his best friend.

He brought his hand up, his fingers ghosting over the marks. He couldn’t touch them, couldn’t bear the thought of even the smallest amount of pain being inflicted on Kuroko, even if unintentionally.

He couldn’t understand who would ever do such a thing to Kuroko. To the boy in front of him that was such a kind, gentle soul. Who loved animals and wanted nothing more than to see his friends smile and play basketball. What could possibly cause someone, anyone, to inflict such wounds onto him?  
Kagami’s head was shaking from side to side, disbelief flowing through him as he continued to take in the various cuts and marks slashed across the back in front of him. 

Some looked fresh, blood still glistening slightly as it congealed into scabs, others were partly healed, only slightly red.

He desperately tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing, but his mind kept going blank. His thoughts tumbling over themselves then disappearing altogether. Finally, he had one clear thought, how? Were the marks placed on his friend by hand? Surely not, that wouldn’t be possible. But he could barely think of any alternative, or at least didn’t want to. With sick curiosity, he cleared his throat.

“How…hm, how did they..? How was it-“

“Done?” Kuroko finished Kagami’s sentence, hearing the confused tumbling of his words. He looked over his shoulder and saw Kagami nod numbly. Kuroko waited. A pause. Knowing the pain that he was now going to readily hand over to his friend. Sighing slightly, he whispered out two, small words, “…a belt.”

“A…belt.” He echoed simply. He had been standing at the precipice for the last ten minutes and now found himself hurtling downwards. His stomach dropped, his world destroyed by two, seemingly harmless, simple words.

_A belt._

Someone has stuck him - this pale, this _tiny_ boy - with a belt. Hard enough to cause open wounds. 

He slumped back on the sofa, bile rushing up his throat, barely aware of his own actions as he brought his head down into his open palms and tightly squeezed his face. No tears now. They had stopped, dried up from the shock. He couldn’t cry. He had no right to. Not when his friend had been through that. 

A shudder ran through him and he found himself shocked by his own feelings. He was expecting anger to burst through him like a tidal wave, fury to force through him like a typhoon. But it didn’t. He felt oddly calm. He’d heard of this happening before, when you’re body experiences high amounts of pain, it will sometimes just simply stop feeling it. The brain will block it out, knowing that it’s too much for you to bear, to comprehend. Perhaps that was what was happening to him. It was comforting really. He didn’t want to feel the pain, or the anger, though he knew he should. He berated himself slightly. Kuroko had to live through that pain. Had to experience first-hand the belt making contact. The pain he must have felt. How scared must he have been? Kagami didn’t have any right to be comfortably numb and unfeeling.

He almost wanted to laugh. It wasn’t possible. Not at all. It was some disgusting, sick joke. Things like this just didn’t happen.

Kagami heard the rustle of clothing as Kuroko picked up his shirt and the bandages off the floor, the padding of his feet as he slowly made his way to him, and finally felt the soft dip of the sofa as the slight frame sat down beside him. Kagami didn’t look up. Couldn’t bear to look into the eyes of the one man he wanted to protect, to keep safe, but had failed to. He didn’t deserve to look at him. Not now.

“The…er…the marks, Kuroko. They aren’t all fresh.” He managed to choke out at the young boy, “Just when…just how? How often?”

“The bruises started a couple of months ago, and have been pretty regular from the start.” Kuroko replied, slowly, quietly, indicating the marks on his stomach. “The belt…the first time for that was a week ago. Last Saturday. And three times since.”

_Three times._

He thought he couldn’t feel any worse but he soon found a new wave of nusea crashing over him. Quickly steadying himself and swallowing down the lump forming in his throat he cleared his mind and spoke.

“Have…have you told anyone else about this, Kuroko?” Kagami said, lifting his head up to look at the young boy beside him. “Your parents? A teacher maybe?”

Kuroko visibly paled, a quick tremor running through him as he vehemently shook his head. His shoulders started shivering slightly and goose bumps spread across his arms. 

“Ah, I’m sorry, Kuroko, calm down.” He panicked as he took in the boys petrified reaction. “Shhh, it’s ok, I’m sorry Kuroko.”  
Seeing him shivering, Kagami quickly stood up and made his way to his own first aid kit, relieved as he opened it and saw it was pretty well stocked, then returned to Kuroko.

“Can I help you to put the bandages back, Kuroko? We need to get you dressed. It’ll help with the shivering. Don’t want you getting cold, ok?” He said it softly, placing the first aid kit on the coffee table in front of them and lightly placing his hand on the shaking knee next to him.   
Kuroko nodded, obviously trying to steady his uneven breathing and stop the shakes.

“Y-yes, thank you Kagami-kun.” He said, slowly getting to his feet as Kagami removed the bandages from the kit, neither of them mentioning the unanswered question. 

“Ah, Kagami-kun,” The quiet voice almost whispered, sounding slightly embarrassed as he kept his gaze on the floor. “Would…would you be able to wash it with a damp cloth before covering it? My back, I mean. I haven’t been able to do it very well by myself.”

His voice had trembled slightly as he spoke and Kagami wanted to break down and cry from hearing it. He sounded so scared, so tired. Kagami cursed himself again for not doing something sooner, for not being there for Kuroko when he needed him. He nodded his head, though Kuroko hadn’t seen it with his gaze pointing downwards.

“Yeah…Yeah I can do that.” He said softly, replacing the bandages to the table next to the two ignored cups of tea and placing a hand gently onto the pale boys’ bony shoulder. “Wait a couple of minutes, I’ll bring some warm water over here, ok? Sit back down for a bit.”  
Kuroko murmured his understanding and eased himself back down to the sofa as Kagami made his way over to the kitchen and filled a large bowl with warm water. He quickly nipped to the bathroom, thankful that he had a handful of clean, soft towels ready to use, and returned to Kuroko holding the various objects. 

He dipped a small flannel into the warm water, thoroughly wetting it before wringing it a couple of times.   
He stood up and Kuroko did the same.

“Brace yourself, it might sting a little bit, but I’ll try to be gentle, ok?” Kagami said as he brought the flannel up towards the sore welts slashing across the otherwise pale skin.

He saw the muscles in Kuroko’s back tense and heard him take a deep breath, then slowly pressed the cloth on one of the cuts that had started to heal, not wanting to touch the raw welts straight away. 

He heard a soft sigh come from the boy in front of him as he continued, slowly working his way round the various cuts until the dried blood that had stained his back was completely gone. It was a few minutes before he lightly pressed his hand to Kuroko’s shoulder after putting the flannel in the bowl for the last time, the water a murky cloud of pink.

“You ready for the bandages now? I’ve also got some cream that I can put on your bruises if you like, it should help them fade quicker?” 

“Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you Kagami-kun” The boy replied quietly, a slight smile gracing his lips for a few seconds.

Kagami set to work slowly rubbing in the cream to the bruising on his stomach, careful not to exert any pressure on them as Kuroko winced slightly at his touch. He then took a length of bandage and wrapped it securely round his torso, covering the dark, disturbing cuts.

“There,” He said a few minutes later, straightening up and lightly rubbing his hand across Kurokos uncovered shoulder. Grabbing the bowl of water from the table and making his way back to the kitchen to dispose of its contents, he looked at Kuroko. “All done, do you feel any better?”

A light blush spread over Kuroko’s cheekbones and he nodded, careful not to make any eye contact. 

Once he had finished tidying up after them, Kagami returned to the sofa, sitting back down next to Kuroko, who was once again fiddling with the hem of the shirt he had just put back on. 

“Kuroko…” Kagami spoke gently, not wanting to upset him anymore than he already had that afternoon, “It really would help me if you could tell me who did this to you, you know.”

Kuroko looked up quickly, his eyes straining slightly with a look of betrayal, his lips parting slightly.  
“Please Kagami-kun, please don’t ask me for that.” He whispered it, but the desperate plea rang loud and clear. “I cannot tell you.”

Kagami sighed, he needed to know, he wanted to punish them for what they had done to Kuroko, and his fists were almost itching with the urge to hurt those that had hurt him. He knew that pushing Kuroko any further would only cause more damage but it didn’t make his reluctance any easy to hear. He carefully tried to arrange the thoughts in his head, trying to decide which questions were most important, what he needed to know the most. He had a thousand things he wanted to say, but didn’t want to overwhelm his already upset friend. 

Kuroko gazed out the window as Kagami frantically collected his thoughts next to him and he noticed how dark the sky had gotten. He knew it wouldn’t be too late in the evening, they’d left the basketball court early afternoon but he wrinkled his brow, knowing that he would soon be leaving the comforting embrace of Kagami and the feeling of safety that being with him caused. He hadn’t wanted to come here at all today, he knew that it would make it harder to return home, to return to his father. He wanted to stay with Kagami, be protected by him.

He sighed lightly, resigning himself with the knowledge that he needed to get going. His father had said he was going out all day, but Kuroko knew he would undoubtedly be coming home tonight, he never stayed out overnight. Kuroko tightly closed his eyes and made a quick, silent prayer that he would get through the night without being woken by his father, belt in hand, the dizzying stench of alcohol lingering on his breath. 

He opened his eyes and turned to Kagami, who was still looking at him with heartbroken eyes. He had been so kind, and Kuroko found himself selfishly glad that he had been able to share his misery, offload part of the grief that seemed to crowd him constantly, but he knew that Kagami couldn’t fix everything. He would perhaps be a shoulder to cry on, but Kagami couldn’t help his father. That was Kuroko’s job, and Kuroko’s job alone.

With renewed determination, he went to stand up, a startled look flashing across Kagami’s face as he mirrored Kuroko’s actions. 

“I need to get going now Kagami-kun.” He said softly, but more firmly than he had spoken all day. Almost like his old self.

“No, wait Kuroko, you can stay here. I don’t mind. Stay and I’ll look after you.” Kagami’s words almost sounded like a plea, but Kuroko smiled gently and shook his head.

“I must return home, Kagami-kun. I appreciate everything you have done for me today, but I am expected at home.” He spoke as he moved towards the door, Kagami hot on his heels.

“Kuroko, please. It’s not safe for you to be going home alone. Just stay the night and you can go in the morning, it’s too dark outside for you to go out alone.” He was panicking, desperate to keep Kuroko with him, to keep him safe and protected from the horrors that could be waiting for him. 

“I will be fine, Kagami-kun. It is still fairly early, there will be a lot of people out on the streets, I’m sure.” His firm voice didn’t waver and he had a stubborn look ghosting across his features. “I need to get home tonight Kagami-kun.”

“At least let me take you home? I’ll come with you and then leave when you’re safe at home?” 

A quick flash of panic shot across Kuroko’s face but Kagami missed it, too busy trying to put his shoes on before Kuroko managed to leave the apartment.  
“No.” Kuroko said, louder than he had spoken all evening. “There is absolutely no need Kagami-kun. I will call you once I’m home but I don’t need you to coddle me like this. Please stay here.”

He stood firm, his hands crossing over his chest as he looked at Kagami. 

Knowing that he wasn’t going to win the argument, Kagami sighed heavily, then nodded, a shoe still clutched in his hand. His stomach flipped and twisted uneasily in his gut and he couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that was creeping its way through his veins.

“Thank you, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said, removing his hands from his front and bending to pick up his bag. His mouth clamped tightly shut, hiding the wince as his back stretched uncomfortably. He straightened up and looked up to Kagami. “I appreciate what you have done for me today but I would like it if you could keep our conversation to yourself, please.”

Kagami nodded reluctantly, knowing that the best course of action would be to inform the police, or at least an adult, but not wanting to push Kuroko into anything he wasn’t comfortable with.

A quick smile spread across Kurokos lips as he nodded in thanks, turned and made his way to the door before a large, warm hand wrapped around his wrist, pulling him back.

“Wha-. “ He exclaimed before his mouth was muffled by a tight wall of muscle and cloth.

Kagami wrapped his arms around the smaller boys’ neck and head, avoiding the vicious cuts adorning Kuroko’s back as he tightly help him in place.

Too shocked to complain, Kuroko found his arms automatically curving themselves around Kagami’s back in reply, his hands barely able to reach each other around the large, muscled torso as tears threatened to spill from his already sore eyes. The warmth of Kagami’s touch radiated through him, and he could feel the tension leaving his body, his shoulders slumping. 

A couple of thick salty tears fell from his tightly closed eyes and were soon absorbed by the thick material of Kagami’s shirt, but he held fast, not wanting to have another outburst of crying. Kagami, feeling the wet warmth of his few tears, bent down slightly and planted a soft kiss on the top of Kuroko’s head, barely registering his movements as the lemony smell of Kuroko’s hair engulfed his senses, the softness tickling his cheeks and nose. 

Feeling the soft peck, a blush erupted across Kuroko’s damp cheeks, the butterflies that had a permanent residence in his stomach lately suddenly burst into a frenzy. Kuroko felt his lips quirk up in a small smile, glad that for once, the flutters were for a happy, albeit confusing, reason.

A couple of minutes passed with the two of them clinging almost helplessly to each other before Kuroko remembered that he needed to get going. Gently easing himself away from the warmth that was his Light, he felt a rush of cold sweep his front. 

“Ah, eh…erm, right.” Kagami was suitably flustered, his cheeks burning and his hand running restlessly through his hair at the back of his head as Kuroko took a few uneasy steps back, his legs looking like they wanted to crumble beneath him.

“T-thank you for having me, Kagami-kun,” An equally flustered Kuroko stuttered out, bowing slightly before moving towards to door again, half hoping to feel a hand wrap around his wrist again and not let go. “I will text you once I am home. Goodnight, Kagami-kun.”

“Ah, er, yeah. No problem.” The blush on his face deepened slightly, before he managed to compose himself, his features sharpening into a stern frown. “Be safe, ok? If anything happens, I don’t care how little or insignificant you may think it is, you ring me straight away and I’ll come and get you. If this…this person tries to hurt you again, I want you to get in contact with me, alright? Promise me, Kuroko, I’m serious.”

The tone of his voice forced Kuroko’s head down slightly and he nodded, knowing perfectly well that he was lying. He wouldn’t call Kagami, he wouldn’t betray his father like that. He would be a good son, and he’d take any punishment his father believed he deserved.

“Yes, I will, Kagami-kun.” He quietly replied before opening the door and stepping out into the slightly humid corridor. 

Kagami stood, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, a frown set deep in his features as he watched Kuroko make his way down the corridor to the exit, only retreating back inside and closing the door when he could no longer see Kuroko’s figure.

His mind was whirring, trying to process everything that he had been told in the last couple of hours. Trying to forget the vivid images of bright red cuts and dark purple bruises. He slowly made his way into the kitchen, seeing the now cold bowl of pale pink water stagnating next to the sink. He emptied it quickly, running the hot tap fast to get rid of the polluted water. His breathing was getting heavy as a slight panic set in. He’d give anything to be able to forget what he had seen, to take away the pain that Kuroko had felt, but no amount of wishing could do that. He needed to think, seriously, about what he had seen, what had happened to his best friend. He had to do something to fix the mess, but could barely wrap his head around the facts s his shaking hands scrubbed the sides of the bowl to clean it. 

He desperately tried to wrack his brains, thinking back to when Kuroko first started acting strange. It had been a few weeks ago at least, that was for sure. An image flashed across his mind’s eye, Kuroko had come to school, he’d had cuts and bruising on his arm…he’d said he’d fallen down the stairs, tripped and managed to cut himself on the way down. Kagami’s stomach lurched, realising that that could have possibly been the first incident. He remembered being dubious about Kuroko’s story, it hadn’t seemed very likely for Kuroko to have such an accident.

Why didn’t he say something back then? He had a gut feeling that Kuroko had lied to him. Why didn’t he make him tell the truth? He might have been able to avoid the pain that Kuroko had suffered since. 

Disappointment ran through his veins, leaving him feeling completely useless. He could barely call himself Kuroko’s best friend anymore, didn’t deserve to think of him like that. All those many weeks ago, he could have helped but did nothing. 

He thought back to his earlier conversation. Last Saturday. Kuroko had said the whipping started then. He’d been at Kagami’s house until late that night, it was almost twelve by the time he had left. And he’d been desperate to get home, he’d said his parents would get angry at him if he stayed out late, so when the hell did he have time to run into someone between leaving Kagami’s and getting home? It just wasn’t possible. 

He paused in his thoughts, his eyebrows furrowed, his lips in a tight line.

_Ah, wait, unless..._

_Home._

_His parents._

Kagami’s stomach dropped in an instant and he struggled to stay standing, his hand reaching out to grab the back of the sofa to steady himself. Barely able to conceal his horror at the mere thought that a parent could cause such damage to their own son, he felt a shudder run through his whole body.

He couldn’t be sure. He barely trusted his own judgment, but with the facts that he knew, this was the only inkling he had. He’d never met them, Kuroko’s parents. Kuroko had always come to his house if they were meeting up or hanging out. They had never come to any of Seirin’s basketball games, and Kuroko himself barely mentioned them. 

Kagami didn’t know what to do, this was beyond him. Panic rose in him quickly as the seriousness of the situation dawned on him anew, he was only a child himself. What were you supposed to do in this kind of situation? Who could he turn to? He wasn’t even sure that it was his parents that had hurt Kuroko, he couldn’t exactly go round and accuse them, Kuroko would never forgive him, but he couldn’t get the thought out of his head. 

There was no one else it could be, was there? 

He thought back to their friends at school, Kuroko was well liked. As far as Kagami was aware, he hadn’t had any troubles at school. They pretty much spent all their time together anyway, he’d definitely know if he was being bullied there.

He knew that Kuroko didn’t do anything after school other than basketball, none of them really had any spare time with other hobbies with the amount of training their coach was giving them, so the thought that he had run into trouble at a club out of school was unlikely.

His mind kept coming back to the same, sick, conclusion, causing his stomach to twist harshly.

He gulped, knowing that he needed to confirm it somehow first, without outright accusing anyone. He didn’t want to aggravate the situation and make things worse for Kuroko that was for sure. However, he didn’t really know anyone else that was close to Kuroko or his family.

His thoughts brought him only one answer, and although he wasn’t entirely convinced in his conviction that it was the correct choice, he pulled out his phone, finding the contact information and hitting the call button.

Bringing the phone to rest against his ear, he tried to steady his breathing as he heard it ring three times, followed by a deep voice drawling on the other end.

“Haa? What do you want?”

“Don’t ask questions. Listen, can you meet me tomorrow? I need to talk to you in person. It’s important.”


	15. Searching For Answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all of the wonderfully positive feedback I got on the last chapter. I have to admit I had a bit of trouble with this chapter, there’s a heavy load of dialogue and I really struggled with it (but then again, one of my favourite characters has now made his appearance so…swings and roundabouts!), but I’m really looking forward to writing the next chapter so that definitely spurred me on to get this chapter done as quickly as possible! I hope everyone enjoys it and I would appreciate any feedback, good or bad, once you’ve finished. Thank you very much!

Kagami opened his eyes wearily, shielding his face slightly from the light streaming through the crack in the curtains with a raised hand. Groaning, his head thumping lightly behind his right eye, he pulled himself up, swinging his legs around before placing them onto the cold floor of his bedroom, a slight shiver running up his legs at the contact.

A few blissfully ignorant moments passed until his mind’s eye was suddenly bombarded with vivid images of the previous evening. Stomach churning, his breathing hitching slightly in his panic, he remembered the scared look of his best friend as he let Kagami in on his dark secret, the vicious cuts and marks and bruises that covered his almost porcelain skin, the tears they had both shed at the misfortune bestowed upon the young boy. 

Closing his eyes tightly enough for colours to start lazily swirling in front of them, Kagami took several large, steadying breaths. He needed to keep a calm head, think things through logically. Rushing in without all the facts would only amplify the problem, of that much he was sure. If only it wasn’t so hard to do, he thought to himself bitterly. He desperately wanted to get Kuroko and bring him home, lock him up nice and safe, keeping him away from any danger, but he could almost see the look that his hard-headed friend would give him if he were to even hint at the idea. He may be down and beaten, but Kuroko was still as stubborn as ever.

He was thankful that he at least knew that Kuroko had gotten home safe. The short text he had received not too long after Kuroko had left was confirmation of that, but it could barely stifle the constant worry that ebbed and flowed through him, sickly thick through his veins. If his rambling thoughts were correct, Kuroko was no safer at home than he was out on the streets. The thought of which sent a quick jolt of panic through him, crinkling his neck slightly in the process.

Rubbing his neck heavily with the palm of his hand, easing out the throbbing stiffness that he had just inflicted on himself, he reached over to his bedside table for his phone, hoping that it wasn’t too early to give Kuroko a call to check up on him and silence the panicked and almost irrational thoughts repeating in his head.

Seeing that it was later than he had anticipated, he quickly dialed his best friends’ number and waited with obvious impatience, his knee bouncing quickly as if hoping to speed up his friend on the other end of the line. 

“Kagami-kun, hello.” The soft voice of his best friend answered after one too many rings for Kagami’s liking, sounding tired and a little weary. Kagami’s heart leapt to his throat upon hearing his voice and he thickly swallowed it down before replying.

“Hi, Kuroko! How’re you feelin’?” He asked, trying to keep his voice cheerful. Hoping to avoid reminding Kuroko of the horrific conversation they’d had the night before, he refrained from bombarding his friend with the many questions he was desperate to find the answer to.

A pause. A sigh.

“I’m fine, Kagami-kun. Thank you for asking.” His voice, faint though slightly hoarse, caused several images to rush through Kagami’s head at high speed. Kuroko, on his own, a slight body in his bed. Had he cried himself to sleep? Drifted off whilst tightly and desperately trying to hold himself together? Berating himself for showing Kagami his wounds. The thought tugged at his heart, the urge to run over to Kuroko’s house and swamp him in a tight embrace almost unbearable to resist. Swatting away the thought quickly, he spread a smile across his lips, hoping that Kuroko could hear it in his voice. 

“Listen, do you wanna get together this afternoon for a bit? I’ve got a couple of things to do at noon, but we could go out for some food or something at 2? I’ll bring my ball, we can go shoot some hoops or something, yeah?” With the knowledge that he couldn’t keep him safe all of the time, Kagami figured that the least he could do was give Kuroko a couple of hour’s relief from the pain. He’d make sure nothing could hurt him when they were together. Make sure he knew he wasn’t alone. 

Kagami could almost hear the hesitation in the silence that followed, but silently prayed that Kuroko would agree, wouldn’t try to distance himself like he had done at school. 

“Yes, that would be nice, Kagami-kun.” 

“Ah, great!” He said, a genuine smile spreading across his lips, his heart lifting slightly at the thought of seeing his friend in a few hours. “Well, I’ll see you later, ok? Give me a call if you need anything before then alright?” 

A murmured acknowledgement and a quick goodbye were swiftly followed by the ending of the call and Kagami felt his stomach drop slightly, wishing he could have stayed on the phone longer, let Kuroko know he was safe, tell him everything would be ok, a thousand times if he needed to, but he couldn’t. He had too much to do before meeting up with Kuroko, too much to try and work out and he wasn’t entirely sure Kuroko would have appreciated him saying it in the first place.

Picking himself up off his bed with a small sigh, Kagami slung on some shorts and a t-shirt and swiftly made his way to the kitchen, intent on a quick breakfast before he needed to head out. 

After a large mixing-bowl full of his favourite cereal, he brushed his hair and teeth then made his way to the door, grabbing his wallet and a basketball before closing the front door swiftly behind him.

They’d agreed to meet up at a basketball court located not too far from Kagami’s house but he still found himself rushing to get there. He wanted to get this over and done with, wanted answers and solutions to his problems and worries as soon as possible. 

Aomine was already there waiting for him, leaning his large and slightly intimidating frame up against the metal fencing around the court, hands tucked deep into his pockets and a slight scowl on his face as he watched a couple of young kids throwing a ball between them, his want to join the boys obvious as his eyes locked on the movements of the ball.

Kagami made his way over to the tanned boy as he tried to haphazardly organize the many thoughts and questions that were bombarding his mind. First things first, he needed to find out about Kuroko’s parents, avoiding telling Aomine exactly what was wrong. He wasn’t entirely sure that Kuroko would want Aomine to know everything Kagami had been made aware of the night before and was keen to avoid experiencing the pale boys’ wrath if it became apparent that it was a secret that definitely shouldn’t have been shared at all. Whether Aomine would let him get away without explaining everything to him though was another thing entirely. 

Aomine looked up as the redhead walked towards him, his scowl deepening slightly at his obvious confusion regarding their reasons for meeting up.

“Bakagami, what’s this about?” He drawled, pushing himself up from his leaning position and opening his hands, indicating for Kagami to give him the basketball he’d brought along. “Must be pretty desperate if you’re willingly meeting up with me without Tetsu.”

Throwing the ball to Aomines’ outstretched and waiting hands, he cleared his throat, lightly rubbing the back of his neck.

“I just have a couple of questions and thought it’d be easier to ask in person rather than over the phone, ya know?”

“Questions? Questions about what?” Aomine’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he spun the basketball on his finger with increasing speed.

“Kuroko.” 

The ball abruptly stopped spinning as Aomine tightly held on to it, looking at Kagami with a raised and quizzical eyebrow.

“Tetsu? What about him?”

“W-well…it’s not about Kuroko, exactly.” He stuttered out, wishing he’d written down his questions instead, he really wasn’t any good at getting his words out at the best of times, and with the nerves currently swirling around him, he could barely form a coherent sentence. “It’s about…his parents, kinda.”

The eyebrow raised further and looked as if it were about to be eaten up by his hair line.

“Haa? His parents? Why’d you wanna know about them?” 

“Ah…well, I was just wondering, if you’d met them?” A light flush was working its way over Kagami’s cheeks as he flustered, the thoughts he’d managed to organize swiftly erupting into chaos. 

A fleeting wave of irritation flashed over Aomine’s face before being replaced with a slow smirk.

“Ehhh? Meeting the parents already, Bakagami?” He sneered, obviously enjoying the perceived turn of events. “I didn’t realise you were that serious about each other. Thought Tetsu had better taste than that to be honest.”

The blush on Kagami’s cheeks deepened, spreading across his cheekbones and drowning his ears in red heat, an intelligible noise escaping from between his lips.

“It-it’s not like that, Ahomine!” He protested, embarrassment swirling through his body. “I’m not…I don’t…Argh!”

Aomines eyes rolled as he resumed his play with the basketball, choosing to lightly dribble it in the small space around them.

“Whatever, it’s pretty obvious Baka,” He said, clearly unconvinced by Kagami’s insistent spluttering excuses and denials as he looked down, continuing his rhythmic tapping of the ball. 

Kagami brought his eyebrows together with a deep frown, taking a couple of deep breaths, wanting to clear up the awkward misunderstanding, but needing Aomine to answer his questions first.

“I said it’s not about that,” He said firmly, knowing he didn’t have time to be joking around with the idiot in front of him. “Have you met them or not?”

Aomine looked up after hearing Kagami’s irritated question, his eyes wrinkling in the corners slightly as he made eye contact with the boy in front of him. After seeing the serious look on the redheads face he replied, shrugging slightly.

“Yeah, I have.”

“And…what were they like?”

“Haa, I don’t know. Just normal I guess.” Aomine said, absentmindedly ruffling the hair on the back of his head with one hand, whilst keeping the other on the ball. “I only met them a couple of times, and that was years ago, back at the start of middle school. His mum’s pretty much like a girl version of Tetsu, seemed nice enough, puny and pale and all that. Only met his dad once or twice though, he worked a lot.

“Why’d you wanna know anyway?” He asked, taking his eyes off the ball in his hands and cocking his head to the side slightly at Kagami. “If it’s not because of your infatuation with Tetsu, you must have another pretty good reason if you’re gonna go as far as to drag me out, of all people. Why didn’t you just ask him yourself?”

“Ah, er, well, he didn’t want me to say anything at all, and, er.” He stuttered, quickly trying to form a valid excuse for his strange questions and coming up short.

“He? Who?” Aomine asked in reply to Kagami’s half formed ramblings.

“Er, Kuroko..?”

Aomine’s eyes squinted slightly, obviously confused by the entire situation and trying to wrap his head around it.

“What, Tetsu asked you not to ask me what I think his parents are like?” He asked, getting himself more confused the further he thought about it. “Baka, you’re making no sense and it’s obvious you’re lying, stop wasting my time and just tell me straight would you? I’ve got better things to be doing than entertaining you.”

Kagami huffed at himself, annoyed that he’d managed to confuse the both of them and still wasn’t any closer to getting out of explaining everything.

“No…Kuroko said something to me, but asked me not to tell anyone else, but I was kinda curious about some stuff…and the only person I could think of that would know is you, Aho!” He hurriedly said, hoping that it was a good enough explanation to satisfy Aomine’s curiosity. 

“What did Tetsu tell you?” Aomine asked, raising a dubious eyebrow.

“He..I…It-it doesn’t matter!” Kagami was once again finding his thoughts addled.

Aomine’s irritation as Kagami’s stuttered repeatedly was clear in his face as he threw the ball into Kagami’s hands with a loud slap.

“Just tell me, will you? If it’s about Tetsu, I wanna know.” He said, his voice with an edge of petulance and annoyance. 

An exasperated sigh escaped Kagami’s lips before he could stop it, his gaze dropping to the floor to avoid making eye contact with the demanding boy in front of him.

“Look, Kuroko came round to mine last night, ok? And he said…argh!” He roughly ruffled his hair with both hands, wishing he could avoid the conversation altogether but knowing Aomine wasn’t likely to back down at this point. He was stubborn if nothing else. “He said something to me, and he told me not to tell anyone…damn near begged me not to tell anyone actually, but I’m worried and I have absolutely no clue what the hell I’m supposed to do!”

“You’re worried? Worried about what? Tetsu?” 

“Yes, about Kuroko.” He finally admitted, reluctance clear in his voice.

“What? Why?” 

“It’s..ah…”

“Just spit it out, Baka!” Aomine stalked closer, his face showing an expression of anger and impatience, the ball he had been playing with now rolling away from them, completely forgotten. “If it’s about Tetsu, then I wanna know!”

“He’s being hurt, Aomine.” Kagami said, letting out a resigned huff as he looked into the dark eyes of the boy in front of him, his voice pained. “Someone’s hurting him and I don’t know who’s doing it, and he won’t tell me.”

Aomine’s face went blank and Kagami could almost see the cogs whirring in his brain trying to comprehend what had been said.

“Hurting…Tetsu…? Someone’s hurting Tetsu?” He pulled a face, scrunching his nose up as he said the words, as if mulling them over, trying them out and not really liking the way they sounded. “What’re you on about Baka? No one would hurt Tetsu.”

“Yes, they would. And it’s horrific Aomine.” Kagami said quietly, a shiver running down his spine as he looked into the hard, dark eyes of the boy in front of him. “You should have seen it, I’ve never seen anything like it before. Bruises and cuts everywhere.” 

The words hit Aomine like a fist to the face and his pained and slightly befuddled expression soon turned to one of anger. Kagami could understand completely, remembering vividly the different feelings that had rushed and surged through him as he had desperately tried to comprehend Kuroko’s words the previous evening. Seeing Aomine reacting to the information almost made him relive it himself as the familiar heavy weight of nausea returned to his stomach, a lump forming in his throat. 

In his frustration Aomine kicked out at the metal fence surrounding them, the loud noises it made at his touch disturbing the young boys that were playing basketball nearby, their eyes widening as they saw the two older boys standing together.

“Who the..? Why….?” Aomine’s obvious anger was clouding his mind and he had difficulty straightening out his thoughts, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides as he prowled around, before turning his demanding voice in Kagami’s direction. “Who the fuck is doing it, Kagami? Because I’d like to pay them a visit and beat the shit out of them. What reason would anyone have to lay a hand on that kid?”

“I don’t know, Aomine.” He admitted uneasily, wishing he knew exactly who it was so that he could go and do exactly what Aomine was obviously wanting to do. “But….but I think it might be someone at his house.”

Aomine stopped short, his eyebrows furrowing immediately.

“Someone at his house…? What the hell are you on about?”

“Yeah, that’s why I came to you.”

“Why the hell would you think that? Why the fuck would someone at his house hurt him? He’s the weakest kid I know, not to mention the quietest, he doesn’t do anything! What reason would anyone possibly have to hurt him?” He demanded to know, becoming increasingly irritated by his own confusion. “I don’t get it, Baka!”

“Look, I’ll explain everything, alright? As much as Kuroko wouldn’t want me to, I’ve got no idea how to sort this out myself.” Kagami said, trying to ignore the uneasy and queasy feeling settling in his stomach.

He went on the explain everything he could remember about what had happened over the last few weeks, Kuroko’s behavior, his increasing isolation from his friends and the bumps and bruises he had tried so hard to hide during the few basketball matches they’d had lately. Aomine listened with rapt attention, his expression turning graver with every passing comment from Kagami. His hands continued to form tight fists, his jaw visibly clenching as he heard of the pain his old shadow had been through.

By the time Kagami had finished, Aomine looked furious. He was not only angry at the person that had dared to hurt Tetsu, but also at himself and the fact he had learned of all of this through Kagami. Disappointment settled in him heavily, realizing that Tetsu hadn’t wanted to share his troubles with him. It was pretty obvious, when he thought about it, that the boy wouldn’t feel comfortable enough to share such dark secrets with him anymore, not after everything they had been through, but being left out still stung nonetheless. He would always help Tetsu, no matter what he needed, he thought that much was obvious at least. Clearing his head of the disappointment and anger he had at himself, he looked at Kagami.

“You sure it’s not someone at school or something? I remember his parents, they aren’t the type of people to hurt their own son, I’m sure of it.” He desperately wanted it to be true, could barely imagine anything worse than having your own parents hurt you, couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it might be for someone as kind and soft as Tetsu to go through something so horrific.

“We’re always together, Aomine. We have all the same lessons, have lunch together, then practice after school, there’s no time for anyone else to get to him!” He said, an impatient sigh leaving him as he repeated the same thing he’d said to himself a thousand times already. “And as far as I know, Kuroko doesn’t have anything else he does at night, we’re always too knackered after practice to do much other than eat and sleep, you know?”

“Urgh, fine. Why don’t we just go to Tetsu’s house and find out for ourselves?” Aomine suggested, thinking it to be the easiest and quickest way to get answers.

Kagami blanched, eyes widening at Aomine.

“Go to his house?” He said, disbelief at Aomine’s words obvious in his voice. “And let Kuroko know I’ve told you everything? Not a chance. Plus, we can’t exactly turn up like, ‘Oh hi, been beating up your kid lately, Mr Kuroko?’ No way.”

Aomine clenched his jaw, breathing in heavily through his nose to calm the flash of anger that had torn through him at Kagami’s reluctance. He didn’t want to sit around thinking about ways to find answers diplomatically. He didn’t care how angry Tetsu would be, he could worry about that after they’d beat the shit out of the person hurting him, he’d rather have Tetsu angry at him than being physically hurt by someone.

“It’s the best way! We don’t have to ask them outright, but we can just go round like we’re visiting Tetsu or something and have a look around, see if anything seems strange, you know? Let’s just try it out, we’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Nothing to lose?” Kagami repeated, albeit exasperatedly. “Nothing to lose? If I am right about everything, which I hope to God I’m not, and they find out we’re snooping into their business, Kuroko might end up getting hurt even worse. He might not get out of it alive, Aomine!” 

Aomine scowled at Kagami’s words, but refused to back down.

“All the more reason to get round his house and sort it all out sooner then, Bakagami! We’re big enough to be able to do some damage to them if anything goes wrong”

Blowing out an irritated puff at Aomine’s insistence to proceed with his poorly thought out plan, Kagami felt his phone come to life in his pocket, vibrating and playing the happy jingle of his ring tone. Shaking his head slightly trying to think of an alternative to rushing round Kuroko’s house and barging in, he absentmindedly removed the phone from his pocket and peered briefly at the caller ID.

Kuroko.

Heart skipping, he quickly pushed through the maelstrom of worries that came sweeping over him to attempt calm himself down. They were planning on seeing each other shortly, the call was obviously about that, just checking where they would be meeting. No need to panic. 

_Calm down, Kagami! You’re over-thinking things!_

He brought the phone to his ear, a slight smile spreading across his lips as he heard slight rustling on the other end of the phone. 

“Hey Kur-“

“H-help me! Kagami-kun! Please!”

A pause. Loud bangs. A scream.

The phone cut off with three loud beeps, and Kagami felt that the ground beneath his feet had disappeared.


	16. Silent Prayers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special "thank you" to SippingTea, who gave me the idea to add a bit of Kuroko's POV, this chapter and the one following are definitely longer and a lot more detailed than they would have been had I gone with my original plan and I think it works a lot better! I really appreciate your input. Also, thank you to everyone for their comments, the last chapter got brilliant response and made me excited to get started on the next few chapters! Hope you enjoy this one, and please let me know what you think!

Kuroko sat, crouching low, in the corner of his bedroom, his knees brought tightly up to his chest, his whole body trembling as his father repeatedly slammed a heavy fist against his door. His hands shaking, he managed to get his phone out of his pocket and searched for Kagami’s mobile number.

Every nerve in his body was on high alert, survival instincts screaming at him to hide, to run, to get away from the monster on the other side of the door, but he knew he had nowhere left to go. He was barricaded in his own bedroom, no way of escape, simply waiting for his father to finally open the door and grab him.

The look on his father’s face when he had seen Kuroko putting on his shoes just a few minutes earlier swept across his mind, a shiver shooting through him as he recalled his dads anger, the betrayal in his voice as he watched his son try to leave the house. He hadn’t understood, had had far too much to drink to rationally acknowledge that his son was only going out for a few hours, was only going out to meet up with a friend. He wasn’t leaving, wasn’t running away never to be seen again.

“You’re not going anywhere Tetsuya! You think I’m stupid don’t ya?” His father’s voice cut through him, the images in front of Kuroko’s eyes seeping away as fear swept in and replaced them. “You were going to go and leave me, weren’t you Tetsuya?! I told you. I told you time and time again. You’re not going. You’re not leaving me. You’re not allowed to go ANYWHERE.”

The banging on the door intensified, and Kuroko could see that it was barely managing to hold tight to its frame as it was bombarded with heavy blows.

Kuroko, finally finding Kagami’s number despite his trembling and almost unresponsive fingers, brought the phone to his ear, a sob escaping him as a silent mantra worked through his head.

_Pick up, Kagami-kun, please, please pick up, help me, please Kagami-kun._

“Hey Kur-“

Relief flooded his veins when he heard Kagami on the other end, he could almost see the small smile playing on his friends lips as he spoke, but he didn’t have time for that. He couldn’t waste any more time. 

“H-help me! Kagami-kun! Please!” 

One final loud bang and Kuroko’s bedroom door swung forward. His father, heaving heavily, eyes wide, looked at Kuroko, then at the phone in his hand and a wave of anger swept across his face.

Moving faster than Kuroko was able to register, he swiftly plucked the phone out of his sons' tight grasp and threw it towards the far wall of the bedroom, a loud crack following the phones impact.

The ground beneath Kagami’s feet seemed to sway as a rush of nausea swept over him. He clutched the mobile phone in his hands and frantically, clumsily, searched his contact list Kuroko’s number, his shaking fingers barely able to tap the screen to make the call.

Bringing the phone up to his ear, he could already hear the woman on the other end politely asking him to leave a message. 

He tried again, again, but still the woman mockingly advised of Kuroko’s inability to answer his call.

A sheen of sweat coated his skin, his legs turning to jelly as his arms floundered helplessly around him. He needed to help. He needed to _do_ something. What should he do? What _could_ he do?

Aomine, seeing the sudden panicked state of the other boy, rushed over and grabbed his arm, keeping him steady as he tried to ascertain what was wrong. 

“Kagami, calm the hell down. Who was that? Was it Tetsu?”

Kagami nodded, almost distractedly as he continued calling Kuroko.

“Yeah, ah, he was screaming, I heard some banging, we need to help him! Ah, shit! He’s not answering his phone, he’s not answering his goddamn phone-”

Aomine felt his stomach drop and a chill set in his bones as he processed Kagami’s words.

“We-we need to get going.” He said, his brain barely keeping up with his legs as he started dragging Kagami towards the exit of the court they were on. “How do we get there?”

Receiving no answer, Aomine looked around at the redhead he was pulling after him and could see him dialing Kuroko’s number over and over.

“HEY Kagami! Which way?” He asked urgently, slight irritation and frustration seeping into his words. 

“Train, we need to get the train. His place is only a couple of minutes from the station,” Kagami answered, the phone glued to his ear.

They made short work of the walk to the nearest train station, bustling through the small crowd that gathered there to get on the train. Both of them breathing heavily, thoughts scattering everywhere and worry obvious on their faces.

Aomine took a few steadying breaths as he tried to regulate his rapid heartbeat once they were on the train. Neither of them sat down, their impatience and need to help Kuroko preventing them from taking a seat. They wanted to get there as quickly as possible, needed to get there as quickly as possible.

“Kagami, tell me what he said,” Aomine said tersely, looking at the frantic actions of the boy next to him, trying to reign in the anger that was threatening to overtake his body. He knew he needed to keep calm, knew they were going as quickly as they could, but it didn’t stop the budding frustration and fury he felt blooming throughout him.

Grabbing Kuroko by the arm tightly, his father dragged him across the room, roughly throwing him down in the centre of it. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Tetsuya?” His father’s voice hissed at him through clenched teeth and Kuroko could smell the strong scent of alcohol on him. His bloodshot eyes barely seemed able to focus on his son as he brought his hand up and slapped him across the face.

Whimpering, Kuroko brought his hands up, shielding his face with outstretched fingers.

“Please, I’m sorry Dad. I’m sorry!”

A bitter laugh followed his apology and he felt a foot make contact with his stomach. He took in a quick shuddering breath as the pain invaded him. His head dizzy from the impact, he curled tightly into a ball hoping to protect himself from the onslaught that would surely follow.

“Ringing people? Ringing someone for help?” His father almost sounded incredulous, amazed that his son would dare to do such a careless thing as ask for help. What could he possibly need saving from? He was his dad. “You’re mine, Tetsuya. You’re my son. You can’t leave me. You can’t go. Stay at home like a good boy, Tetsu. Stay at home and look after your old man.”

His voice was honey, though surely laced with poison, as he crouched low towards his son, breathing heavily into the young boy’s ears, forcing a deep tremble to erupt across Kuroko’s body in response to his words.

“You don’t need saving Tetsuya. Everything I do, I’m doing for you.” His hand gripped the back of Kuroko’s neck, some of his pale hair getting pulled by the cold grasp his father had on him, forcing a surprised yelp out of him as he felt his head being turned, forcing him to look at his father, at the monster in front of him. “You know that, right Tetsu? You can’t leave me, not now.”

“Please, please dad, I-I wasn’t leaving you. I wasn’t!” Kuroko felt tears well up in the corners of his eyes, the biting sting making him blink several times in quick succession. “I was just going out to p-play basketball. I wasn’t leaving. I promise…I promise dad, I won’t leave!”

His father paused, obviously contemplating Kuroko’s words, though his grip never loosened its tight hold on his sons small, pale neck. 

“Basketball?” He asked rhetorically, a glint of something Kuroko didn’t recognize in his eyes, “Ah, I’m obviously not punishing you enough if you feel like you can go out and play, right Tetsuya? You have to stay home with me. You don’t need to go out and play.”

A slow, sick smile spread across his thin lips as he forced Kuroko’s head into the rug beneath them, causing his son to cough as the fibers tickled his face. He felt his shorts being roughly pulled down along with his underwear, shivering slightly as the cold air hit the bare skin of his buttocks. His shirt was quickly pushed up, strong fingers heavily brushing past the cuts that had yet to heal on his back. Kuroko, closing his eyes tightly, braced himself for the pain that would surely come, and when it did, in the form of several hard slaps to his bottom and back, he let out an involuntary gasp. 

At first he barely felt anything, gasping more at the shock of sudden contact than actual pain, and he almost sighed in relief that he was being let off so easily. However, the more his father continued his punishment, the more Kuroko came to appreciate subtle abuse.

Heat rose from the marks his father’s large, rough hands left on his pale skin before being overrun with sharp stings that radiated through him. He felt raw, felt that his skin would surely break or melt or burn right off. Over and over his father slapped, the twisted noise of rough skin making quick, brief contact with his buttocks sent shivers over him and caused acidic bile to rise and burn in his throat. 

He let out a loud yell when fingers made contact with the scratches and cuts low on his back, not yet healed from their whipping two nights prior. Tears streaming down his face he begged, begged his father to let him go, to forgive him, to stop, though his words came out muffled, his face still firmly pressed into the fluffy rug beneath him. 

“Please, please dad. I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I won’t go, I won’t!” 

He couldn’t see his father, but could hear his heavy breathing, the grunts he made as he swung his hands down onto his son. He took no notice of Kuroko, ignored his pleas and cries and continued his almost rhythmic actions. 

He was muttering to himself slightly, hardly loud enough for Kuroko to make out the individual words over the noise of his slaps, but he repeated the same thing, over and over, a quiet mantra, a soothing chorus. 

“You can’t leave me. I won’t let you go. You belong to me. You belong to me!”

Kuroko felt he’d pass out from the pain, the burning sensation had spread across his body, his legs trembled, his breathing coming out in shallow, painful gasps.  
His father stopped the onslaught momentarily, a wave of relief flooding Kuroko’s body before he heard the now familiar clink of his father’s belt. His eyes widened, more tears mixing with the snot and saliva that already drenched his face and the fabric beneath him. 

“Please! Please, no! Don’t Dad, I can’t…not again! Please!!”

Ignoring his son, the belt slammed down, the burning sensation being replaced with a sharp sting that shot up Kuroko’s spine, his father’s hits coming down harder than previous punishments. Kuroko’s breathing stopped altogether as he held his breath, tensing his whole body to help counteract the searing, horrific pain that was sweeping over him in a vicious tsunami. Blood rushing in his ears, his arms and legs trembling, Kuroko silently prayed. Hoping that Kagami was on his way, would come and save him from the monster crouching over him. For once, he abandoned the guilt he often felt when his father hurt him, and instead let hatred and anger and pain take its place.

Kotetsu faltered slightly when the front door below them opened with a sudden bang, heavy footsteps working their way down the hallway, the sound of voices calling his sons name.

Taking advantage of the sudden reprieve, Kuroko tried to struggle his way out of his father’s grasp but was soon pulled back into his place, the hand on his neck tightening to a nearly fatal grip as his father’s belt continued making repeated contact with his lower back, with his buttocks, frantically as if to make up for the momentary break he had taken seconds before.

“They aren’t taking you! You’re mine Tetsuya! MINE!” He rasped out, spit flying from his mouth before clenching his jaw tightly. Crazed like a wild animal, Kuroko had no doubt that all sense and reason had completely left his father. He probably wasn’t even registering what he was doing anymore, acting purely on his twisted instincts. His need to possess and protect what he believed belonged to him pushing him to continue his frantic rampage. 

“Help! Help…me!” Kuroko managed to gasp as he heard the footsteps get closer, heavily thudding up the staircase towards his bedroom. “Help!”  
The whips got harder, faster, sunk deeper into his skin and Kuroko almost felt like his very muscles were being ripped apart. Surely he’d die. Surely this will kill him.

He could feel his consciousness slipping from him, his head being slowly dragged into the seeping darkness at the edges of his mind as he took in the sounds of his father’s grunts, the whip of air as the belt swung towards him, the faint shouting of his name from the hallway. His eyelids were heavy as he desperately tried to cling on, unsure if he would ever open them again if he succumbed to the pain.

Thumping their way up the stairs in Kuroko’s house, Kagami and Aomine strained their ears, trying desperately to find where Kuroko was. They could hear yelps and cries following the clear whistle as something was quickly whipped through the air, a sharp slap sounding closely behind.

Aomine could feel his stomach clenching with every slap he heard, his vision almost growing cloudy with the anger rising in his body, taking over every nerve. Images were flashing through his mind like a sick slideshow of his worst nightmares but he was hoping, praying, pleading to every god known to man that the noises he was hearing were coming from a television. The gasps and yells and screams were ripping at his heart, banging against his skull the further up the stairs he got. That couldn’t be Tetsu. Nothing could make those kinds of noises come out of that small boy. No one could hurt him that much. Aomine could feel his breakfast desperately making its way up from his stomach. 

_Please. Oh god, please let it be a television. Not Tetsu, it can’t be Tetsu._

Reaching the top of the stairs, seeing one door swung open, the light from the doorway flooding the floor, the two boys swept forward, pausing only when their gazes rested on the horrific sight in front of them.


	17. The Cavalry Arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yey! Two chapters in a day! Hope everyone enjoys this. Let me know what you think. I'm just gonna go have a massive nap now.... but not before thanking every god I know that I don't have to write over 6 and a half thousand words every day, it's insane how tiring it is!

Kagami gasped in horror and disgust as he took in the sight before him. A man, similar in age to his father, was crouching low, one hand grabbing at the small thin neck of Kuroko, the other tightly grasping a leather belt, raised high in the air ready to strike down on the bare backside of the small boy at his feet. Bile rose in his throat, the bare skin on show was a violent, vicious red, the clear outline of handprints and whip marks displayed for all to see. 

Barely able to breathe, let alone move, Kagami stumbled forward slightly as Aomine pushed past him, a blur of tan and navy blue. 

He watched in horror as Aomine pulled the man away from the small figure on the floor, a fistful of clothing tight in his grasp, before coming to his senses and rushing over himself to help, to get Kuroko out of harm’s way, away from the beast that had been hurting him, that was currently shouting out in anger at the sudden disruption and attempted upheaval.

“Wha- Who the hell are you bastards?” The older man shouted, his eyes narrowing at the two boys that had entered the room. “Get the fuck off me and get out of my house!” 

The older man held fast to Kuroko’s neck, his nails digging deep into the supple skin, small beads of blood popping up and running towards Kuroko’s collar as Aomine and Kagami continued to try to separate them. Kagami, feeling a surge of anger more intense than he had ever felt before, almost cheered when he saw Aomine raise his free hand, tightly forming a fist before brutally bringing it down into the face of Kuroko’s attacker, a sickening crunch followed by a grunt of pain and rush of blood.

The attacker soon loosened his grip on the small boy, bringing both hands up to protect his face and stem the bleeding, but Aomine didn’t let it stop him, continuing to bring his fist down as he dragged the man across the room, away from Kuroko. 

Barely realizing that he was doing, Aomine felt numb, blood rushing in his ears, a slight ringing blocking out the sounds of the grunting man below him as his punches made contact with frightening speed and intensity. He could kill this man if he wanted to, and the thought made a sick smirk pull at the corner of his mouth. He should kill this man. He didn’t deserve to live. Didn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as Tetsu.

He could vaguely make out Kagami’s frantic shouts, and turned to see the redhead holding tightly to Kuroko’s wounded body, lightly tapping at his cheek to try and get him to wake up properly, to bring him out of the small boy’s current stupor. Panic was clearly etched into the very lines of his face and Aomine’s anger and unease surged at the uncertainty of what he was seeing. Deciding that punching just wasn’t enough anymore, he pulled back a leg and kicked the man’s stomach, taking sick delight in the cry that followed. 

Kuroko’s eyes fluttered, gaze unfocused as Kagami continued lightly tapping his face. He could feel relief washing over him, healing the wounds that littered his body. 

“Kagami-kun…”

Safe. Safe and warm. Kagami. Kagami was here.

“Yeah, I’m here, Kuroko. We’re here. You’re gonna be ok, you’re gonna be fine, I promise.”

A small smile gently tugged at his mouth and he let out a content sigh. He didn’t need to worry. Kagami-kun would make everything better. Kagami-kun would save him. 

Taking small calming breaths, Kuroko relaxed his body. He could almost ignore the blistering heat of the marks on his bottom in the soft embrace of his best friend, could ignore the slight trickle of blood seeping from the newly reopened cuts on his back as he listened to Kagami’s soft words, until he took note of the other noises in the room, the grunts and cries and yelps that were usually coming from his mouth. Dread rushed his veins as he strained his neck to look in the direction the noises were coming from.

A yelp escaped his lips as he took in the sight. 

Aomine, big, terrifying and fiercely aggressive, bent low over his shivering father. Fists and feet making swift contact with various parts of his father’s body as Aomine swore loud incoherent words. He looked crazed, all reason already having vacated him as he took out his anger on the older man. 

“Ao-Aomine-kun! Stop!” Kuroko managed to gasp out, his voice breaking, “My dad, you’re hurting him! Aomine-kun STOP!”

Pausing slightly, his whole body heaving as he took a break from his viscous onslaught, Aomine turned his gaze upon the pale boy in Kagami’s arms, his eyes wide, his mouth opening slightly in confusion.

“Stop?” He asked incredulously, “Stop? _Are you fucking kidding me?!_ ”

His voice was harsh, making Kuroko jump slightly, tightening the grip his small hand had on the front of Kagami’s shirt.

“Have you seen what this...this bastard has done to you Tetsu? Look at yourself! He’ll be lucky if he gets away with half of the damage you’ve got once I’m through with him!”

Kuroko felt strong arms tighten around him as he struggled to get loose, to get over to Aomine and to protect his dad. He couldn’t let Aomine hurt him. His father didn’t deserve that. He needed help, not punishment, he didn’t know what he was doing. The guilt he had thrown away only minutes prior returned in full force, almost crippling him with its intensity. 

“Aomine-kun, please stop! He needs help! He’s not well! PLEASE!”

Aomine, not bothering to look at Kuroko as he heard the latter plea with him, felt his anger increasing further. He didn’t think he could get any more frustrated than he already was, but hearing Tetsu, poor, abused Tetsu, sticking up for the vile, worthless creature that had tormented him so much, sent his blood boiling. 

“Tetsu, seriously now. Shut the hell up!” He spat the words out, harsher than he had intended, frustration seeping out of him in every way possible. 

Kuroko clamped his mouth closed at the tone of Aomine’s words, a sudden wave of fear crashing over him, a shiver erupting over his body. Kagami, feeling the shudder, rubbed a large warm hand up and down his arm, soothing, calming, before speaking at the tanned boy across the room.

“Aomine, stop being a dick. It’s not Kuroko’s fault. Just stop it will you?” He said, taking note of the almost unconscious man at Aomine’s feet. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough? He’s not fighting back. Just leave it and pack Kuroko a bag, we need to get him out of here as quickly as possible.” 

Hearing Kagami so calm, seeing him so levelheaded, sobered Aomine instantly. He felt like an idiot, almost felt a sting of betrayal at Kagami’s calm attitude. Didn’t he want to kill this man as much as Aomine did? Didn’t he want to punish him for hurting their friend? For hurting their weak, defenseless teammate? Wanting to shout at him for being so weak willed, for not wanting to beat up the disgusting creature currently wheezing at his feet, he turned his attention fully to Kagami, but stopped instantly. The intense smoldering heat of embers that burned in Kagami’s deep red eyes spoke volumes of the hatred running through him, burning away at his carefully controlled calm exterior. Aomine could almost touch it, taste it thick on his tongue, feel the flames of it fiercely spreading throughout the room as he looked him in the eye, but when Kagami broke the contact, sweeping his gaze down to the broken and beaten body in his arms, Aomine could feel his own heart tugging painfully in his chest. The pain etched into Kagami’s expression showing one of pure anguish, helplessness and uselessness, fighting alongside a strong will and need to protect. 

Kagami wasn’t ok with this. He didn’t want to let the man get away with his deeds, he was like a proud and ferocious tiger that thirsted for blood, but he knew what he needed to do. He needed to protect the life of his most precious friend. His first, and top priority, would always be Kuroko’s safety and wellbeing. 

Sighing, Aomine turned his gaze to the bedroom, ignoring the lowly, quietly whimpering man at his feet, searching for a bag to fill with Tetsu’s things. 

He made short work of his collections, stuffing a variety of clothing into the bag before quickly nipping into the bathroom for toiletries. They could buy anything he managed to forget if they needed to, just wanting to get Tetsu out of the house as swiftly as possible.

Upon his return to the bedroom, he heard the man, Tetsu’s own father, shouting as he shakily made his way to his feet, blood still dripping thickly from his broken nose.

“NO! You’re not taking Tetsyua. You’re not taking him. He’s mine! He’s MINE!” He was working his way over to Kagami and Kuroko, the latter of which barely able to comprehend what was happening around him as he succumbed to the pain of his injuries.

The look of pure disgust on Kagami’s face was clear as he stood up, one arm under Kuroko’s legs, the other cradling his back to his chest. When he spoke, it was with an icy tone so cold it rivalled the heat of his previous flames of anger.

“He isn’t yours. He isn’t a possession to be had and kept.” He said, towering over Kuroko’s father by several inches, the muscles in his arms twitching, contracting and releasing in a threatening display of dominance over the older male. Aomine felt as if watching two wild animals fighting over territory. “What you’ve done to him is beyond forgiveness and I’m gonna make sure Kuroko realizes that, realizes just how worthless you truly are!”

Aomine dropped the bag swiftly at his feet as he saw the shorter man launch himself at his son and his friend. Grabbing his arm in a tight grip, Aomine pushed him to the wall, his free arm coming up to press against the struggling man’s throat, essentially ceasing all chances of getting free.

“Don’t. You. Dare. Touch. Tetsu.” Aomine said, venom dripping from every word he spoke, his weight on the man’s throat increasing as he leaned towards him, hissing into his ear with no uncertainty. “I will kill you, if you so much as look at Tetsu again, do you hear me?”

He waited for a response, but got only gurgled moaning and spluttering in reply.

Briefly looking over his shoulder at Kagami and Tetsu, he told the two of them to get downstairs and out of the house. 

“I’ll be down in a second, don’t worry about Tetsu’s bag, I’ll bring it with me.”

With a short nod, Kagami left the room without a backwards glance, Kuroko barely conscious in his arms. 

Turning back to the man stuck under his weight, cocking his head slightly, Aomine sighed.

“I really want to kill you.” He said bluntly, the monster in his stomach purring at the wide eyed expression on the older man’s face as he took in the words. “However, Tetsu means more to me than my desire to hurt you, and I have a feeling he won’t forgive me, so, for now, you’re off the hook. But make no mistake, I’m coming for you. I won’t forgive you and I won’t let you ever forget what you’ve made Tetsu go through.”

Pushing himself away from the man using the arm on his neck, Aomine straightened up. Tetsu’s father slumped to the floor in a messy heap but made no move to retaliate, only breathing heavily, rubbing his sore neck and throat.

Aomine turned away, bending down slightly to pick up Tetsu’s bag before slinging it over one shoulder and walking out of the room. It ate away at him, knowing he was leaving the man very much alive, and very much capable of coming after Tetsu again, but he satisfied himself shortly with the image of fear he had seen on the man’s face only moments before. 

Making his way downstairs, he could make out Tetsu’s quiet voice, urgent as he begged his friend to let go of him, slurring ever so slightly due to the pain he was in.

“Please, Kagami-kun, can’t leave him! I can’t. He’s hurt, Aomine-kun hurt him!”

Kagami held tightly to Kuroko’s struggling body, refusing to release his grip on the boy despite his protests.

“No, Kuroko. We need to get you out of here. We need to get you to a hospital, your wounds have all opened up again, if we don’t get it sorted out now, you might get infected. You’re dad’ll be fine, he’s a grown man, he can deal with his own problems.”

“Please, Kagami-kun. He’s not in his right mind at the minute! If I leave him, I don’t know what he’ll do. I can’t let anything happen to him-“

“Too right, he’s not in his right mind,” Aomine said as he walked up to the two of them, Kuroko’s bag still tight in his grasp as he shook his head, “He hurt his own son, shit, he beat the crap outta you Tetsu. We’re going, and that’s that, so just shut up.”

Kuroko turned in his direction, his mouth opening slightly to argue with Aomine but he was cut off before he even had a chance to say anything, Aomine interrupting, a large and irritated sigh coming out of his lips.

“Seriously Tetsu. It’s no use arguing with either of us. Have you seen yourself? Seen what that bastard has done to you? He’s lucky I didn’t kill him, because trust me, the thought of that piece of shit living another day knowing what he’s done to you makes me want to go back in there and push his head through a wall. Shut up. We’re going to the hospital.”

Kuroko shuddered slightly at his harsh words, his eyes blown wide in fear. Kagami saw his expression and turned to Aomine quickly, anger flashing across his features.

“Damn it, Aomine, shut up. No need to go that far!” 

Aomine shrugged in reply, walking past the two of them towards the front gates of Kuroko’s house and getting his phone out of his pocket, wincing slightly as his stinging hands touched the rough fabric of his jeans.

He grumbled slightly, not having realised that he had hurt himself whilst beating Kuroko’s father up. 

He looked over his shoulder at the two boys behind him, lifting up his phone to indicate his intentions.

“I’m gonna call us a taxi to take us to the nearest hospital, I don’t fancy having to carry Tetsu the whole way, no matter how puny he is.”

“I’m capable of walking myself,” Kuroko said indignantly, before realizing fully what Aomine had said and becoming panicked. “And no hospitals! I’m not going. I don’t need to go.”

He quickly looked up at Kagami, worry clear on his face and his eyes welling up with terrified tears.

“Please, Kagami-kun. Don’t make me…I can’t!” He gasped slightly, his grip on Kagami’s shirt tightening, “Can’t you do it? Like last time…please?”

Kagami’s features relaxed, trying to calm the agitated boy in his arms, his voice trying to sooth.

“Shh, it’s ok, it’s fine. We’ll take you back to mine. I’ll check you over and do what I can ok?” Relief swept over Kuroko’s face as he nodded, but Kagami continued talking, “However, if it’s too serious, I’m gonna have to take you to the hospital. I can’t have you getting any infections, I won’t be able to help you, I’ll probably just make things worse.” 

Kuroko reluctantly nodded, ignoring Aomine’s grunts of disagreement at Kagami’s idea. 

“I don’t get why you’re being like this Tetsu,” Aomine said, his arms folding over his chest once his phone had been replaced to his pocket, the taxi confirmed and on its way. “We’re just trying to help.”

Kuroko ignored his comment, focusing on trying to keep his expressions as blank as possible, not wanting his two saviours to know just how much pain he was in. 

They made their way to the end of the street to wait for the taxi, not wanting to stay too close to Kuroko’s house and the possibility of seeing his father again.

It arrived only minutes later, and Kagami gently placed Kuroko into the back of the car, his arms feeling cold and empty with the absence of his soft, warm body of his best friend. 

Kuroko leant carefully against the car door, his forehead resting gently against the cool glass of the window. He sighed slightly, shifting as he tried to get his body into a comfortable position. He didn’t want to admit it, but sitting down on his raw buttocks was causing shivers of pains to shoot up his spine, sweat beading on his back from the pain. His breathing was shallow, faster than he would have liked, but he closed his eyes and focused on staying calm. 

Sliding in next to him, Kagami took one of Kuroko’s cold hands gently into his larger one, his thumb rubbing soothing circles in the plump flesh between Kuroko’s thumb and index finger. He wanted to reassure him, let him know that he, and Aomine, were there to help and protect him. They weren’t going to let him be hurt again. 

Kagami’s mind wondered back to what had just transpired in his best friends’ bedroom, and he felt the familiar sting at the back of his eyes as tears threatened to fall. His stomach clenched and unclenched uneasily. Kuroko had said that that man was his father. As much as Kagami had wished it wasn’t so, his own predictions had been true. The realization hit him like a hurricane, winding him slightly.

How could a father hurt his son so grievously? How could he say the things he had done? Raised his hands so readily to strike at his own flesh and blood? 

His mind boggled, unable to truly comprehend what he had seen. Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, had witnessed the monster bring his belt down on Kuroko’s skin, he still had trouble believing it. He thought fondly of his own father, the man who had brought him up with love and kindness and barely ever even raised his voice. He couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to have that same man crouch over him and whip him senseless with his belt. His mind almost refused to entertain the idea. 

These uneasy thoughts carried him until they reached his apartment. Aomine swiftly paid, and got out of the car, eager to get inside as Kagami helped Kuroko out of the car.

Kagami bent over slightly with the intention of picking Kuroko up again, to carry him safely inside the house, but Kuroko swatted his hand away gently, a small look of irritation sweeping over his sweaty, pale face. 

“I’m fine, Kagami-kun.” He said breathlessly, as he slowly tried to make his way towards the building.

He only managed a few steps before Kagami caught up with him and swept him up into his arms with a sigh.

“Just let me do this for you Kuroko.” He said, his expression pained as he looked at the increasingly weakened boy in his arms, “It’s the least I can do after what’s happened today.”

It was a struggle to get Kuroko up to his apartment, but he sighed with relief when he could finally put Kuroko down on the sofa before he busied himself getting the first aid kit and hot water ready like he had the previous night.

Aomine stood in the entranceway of the living room, watching with one eyebrow slightly raised in confusion at Kagami as he went into the kitchen to fill a bowl full of warm water.

Kuroko looked up at Aomine then followed his gaze to the redhead, a slight frown settling on his face as a light huff escaped his lips.

“It’s to clean my back with,” He said quietly in explanation. “I have…cuts…on my back that need wiping.”

Aomine felt bile once again rise up his throat and he had to fight to swallow it down as he silently nodded, put Tetsu’s bag on the floor and made his way over to the sofa, settling himself down next to the smaller male.

He was apprehensive, almost scared of what he was about to see. Unease was bubbling in him as he vaguely recalled what he had seen when he and Kagami had rushed into Tetsu’s bedroom. Aomine could just about remember seeing red marks littering the pale boy’s lower body, but had been too intent on getting rid of the man towering over him to pay much heed to the marks. From the way Tetsu was sitting, he could only imagine that the wounds were a lot worse than what he believed he had seen, and the thought almost terrified him. 

Listening quietly to the wheezing breaths Tetsu was making next to him, he willed himself to stay calm, to keep his anger in check and think rationally. He was desperate to pull Tetsu to him, rush him over to the hospital and then go back to his old teammate’s house and finish what he had started earlier, but he needed to see this, he needed to see what had happened to Kuroko.

Kagami came towards them, carefully holding the bowl of hot water in front of him as he gripped the first aid kit and some towels under his arms. He placed the items onto the table in front of him then raised his gaze to meet Kuroko’s, his face softening as he indicated for the smaller of the two to stand up.

With a slight sigh, Kuroko got to his feet, his whole body protesting at the movement. He struggled slightly, his body tensing with every small movement as he tried to get his clothes off, embarrassment slowly creeping over him as he lowered his shorts to show the marks on his buttocks. 

He cringed instantly when he heard the guttural noise escape Aomine. He’d almost forgotten that the other male was there as whilst he had tried to get his clothing off. He lowered his head slightly, not wanting to turn around and see the look on his old Lights face as he took in the crisscrossing massacre of cuts and scratches on his back. 

Aomine spoke, but directed his comment at the redhead, rather than the slightly trembling Kuroko. His voice instantly took Kuroko back to a time in middle school, the navy haired boy broken and completely empty as he admitted being unable to remember how to receive the other boy’s passes, finding no need to work as a team with his newfound, and unwanted, skills. It clenched at Kuroko’s chest, his heart pulling tightly in answer to the voice.

“You said they were beating him up, Kagami. What the…what is this?”

Aomine swept his gaze over the exposed torso in front of him. Cuts and scrapes, bruises and rashes littered it completely. Barely an inch was spared from the vicious red of the wounds. It was worse than he could have imagined. He expected a couple of bruises, lightly spattering him, but this…this was close to torture. Something that he couldn’t have imagined even if he had tried. 

The anger that he had been successfully keep at bay now raged forth as he got to his feet, his chest heaving slightly as he continued flicking his gaze from one welt to another.

“Just…just what the fuck happened. How could…? TETSU! Tell me everything, right now!” He yelled angrily, his hands clenching into tight fists as he clamped his teeth together in a tight grimace. His eyes narrowed as he walked forward and swung Tetsu round by the shoulder to look at him.

The smaller boy looked bewildered, fear evident on his features as his gaze was forced up into Aomine’s face.

Kagami intercepted quickly, seeing the panicked expression on Kuroko’s face.

“Stop it, right now Aomine!” He said, firmly gripping the tanned boy’s wrist and removing it from Kuroko. “Let me clean him up, and then we’ll talk, ok? I’ve got some questions of my own anyway.”

His whole body shaking, not wanting to drop the subject even for a minute, Aomine tersely nodded, wrenching his arm free of Kagami’s grasp and folding his arms tightly in front of his chest.


	18. Seeking Help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! First of all I want to say an absolute massive sorry for taking so long to update this. I have a thousand excuses, but my main problem was a serrrrious case of writers block. I have the next few chapters all mapped out, but actually getting the notes into something worth posting seemed more than a little bit tricky for me to be honest. Finally got pen to paper this morning and have ended up with this! The last thing I'd want is for you to think I'm giving up with this. I've read a few half finished stories on here that have been abandoned and it's really heartbreaking when you've gotten to know the characters and the authors writing style and everything so, I promise this will be finished!! I hope everyone likes it, and thank you thank you thank you for sticking with me and also for all the kudos, views and comments (it's actually insane, and I am completely blown away that people actually want to read something I've written!). Rest assured, the next few chapters will be out in a more orderly fashion. I intend to get this story wrapped up by Christmas as I start Uni in Feb and don't know if I'll have enough time to fart, let alone write a story! So, yes. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it. Sorry if it isn't on par with my previous chapters, but like I said, I really struggled with this and just need to get myself back into the swing of things! Enjoy, and please let me know what you think (concrit is always appreciated!). Also, I've realised whilst writing this that there's nothing nice to call a bottom. Arse? Ass? Backside? All sound weird. This has disgruntled me more than I care to admit.

Shaking his head at Aomine, Kagami turned his attention back to his smaller friend that was only just managing to hold himself up whilst leaning heavily against the sofa. Kagami’s brows furrowed deeply as he swept over to him, his hand hovering slightly, ready to catch Kuroko should he finally lose the battle he was currently having to stand upright.

“Are you alright, Kuroko?” He asked softly, his protective instincts barely concealed.

Aomine scoffed at the question, but said nothing as Kuroko shot him a withering glare.

“I-I believe I’ve been better, Kagami-kun.” He managed to gasp out, surprising both of the taller boys with his poor attempt at a joke. “Perhaps we should get this over with though?”

“Yeah, ok. Come round here and I’ll try to do it as quickly as I can, alright?” Kagami said as he carefully brought Kuroko back around to stand in the middle of the living room. 

Holding his breath slightly in anticipation, Kagami slowly made his way round each of the wounds shining bright against Kuroko’s skin with the warm damp cloth, gently wiping away the blood and sweat that had gathered there. Each gasp, yelp and tiny whimper that involuntarily left Kuroko’s lips clenched his heart and burned his eyes as he persevered through, wanting to get this over and done with as soon as possible so his frail friend could finally relax, cleaned and bandaged. 

Aomine hovered at Kagami’s back, peering over his shoulder to take a closer look at the marks as Kagami dutifully carried out his cleaning. He could feel his anger bubbling away deep in his gut, though it was easily kept at bay by the waves of nausea that swept through him as he gazed at each blistering welt. 

Kuroko let out a particularly loud yelp once Kagami made his way down to the pale boys’ raw bottom, and Aomine winced along with him.

“Jesus, idiot, can’t you do it without hurting him or something?” He let out, coming closer and almost bumping into Kagami’s back. 

“I’m trying you know! It’s not that easy, and it’s got to be done. I’m trying to do it as quickly and nicely as I can but the bloods dried now, it takes some wiping to get it off!” Kagami huffed out irritably as he continued his work. 

It seemed to take an age before Kagami finally disregarded the cloth into the light red water and picked up a tub of antiseptic cream. He quickly unscrewed the lid and squeezed a liberal amount on his palm before rubbing his hands together, coating his fingers with the cooling solution.

Letting out a small, satisfied sigh, Kuroko felt the tense muscles of his back relax slightly under the refreshingly cold cream that was being slathered down his lower back and bottom. Kagami took his time to rub the cream in well, ensuring that every mark on his skin had been covered by it before hastily rubbing his greasy hands on his shorts and grabbing the nearby roll of bandages from the table beside him.

“Right, Kuroko. Almost done.” He said as he found the end of the roll and unraveled it a little. “Once I’m finished I can get you some painkillers. Think I’ve got some of the stronger pills the hospital gave me when I hurt my legs last year somewhere around here, they should take away the majority of the pain for you.”

Kuroko nodded minutely as Kagami wrapped the bandages around his waist to cover the worst of the marks on his lower back and was quick to pull his underwear and shorts up over his bottom once plasters were put on the sore marks littering it.

Once finished, Aomine reached around Kagami and gently tugged Kuroko back towards the sofa, careful not to pull him down completely, giving the smaller boy a chance to sit down himself and get comfortable whatever way he could manage given the extent of his injuries.

Once satisfied that Kuroko was settled, albeit wincing slightly as the marks protested the movement, Kagami picked up all the supplies scattered on the table and went to the kitchen, rooting through his medicine box for the strong painkillers as well as some anti-inflammatories. 

He popped the kettle on, intending to make the three of them some coffee, and got a tray and some snacks ready, realizing it probably wouldn’t be wise to let Kuroko take such strong pills on what could be a completely empty stomach. 

Once the tray was overloaded with crisps, biscuits and three large cups of milky coffee, he made his way back into the living room and set it in front of the two boys already seated on his sofa. 

Kuroko looked at him with a small appreciative smile on his lips as Kagami took a seat next to him, on the opposite side to Aomine.

“Get a couple of biscuits down you or something, Kuroko, then you can have a few painkillers, alright?”

Kuroko nodded again and leant forward to wrap his fingers around the nearest item, his breath hitching slightly at the pull on his back muscles. 

Ignoring the offered refreshments and snacks, Aomine leaned over and grabbed Kuroko’s forearm once the latter had finished his snack and taken the offered pills, pulling the small boys attention away from the redhead.

“Tell me what happened, Tetsu.” He said firmly, his grip tightening ever so slightly, yet not enough to cause any pain. “And don’t give me any bullshit about you deserving it or your dad being ill, ‘cause I don’t buy it.”

Kagami let out an irritated huff but didn’t speak, deciding instead to rest his hand on Kurokos’ thigh in silent encouragement. 

Visibly gulping and shaking slightly, Kuroko nodded his head and cleared his throat gently, leaning his body into Kagami’s touch as he readied himself for his story. 

Slowly, Kuroko worked through his slightly muddled memories of the last few weeks as he explained everything that had happened, making sure to keep his voice as steady as he could to avoid being over-run by the emotions that were fighting to take over and engulf him.

Keeping quiet on either side of him, Aomine and Kagami listened with rapt attention as Kuroko recalled his various beatings and the circumstances that had caused them.

Aomine could feel his anger rising again, barely able to believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t imagine what must be going through Tetsu’s head, to have lost his mum, and to basically lose his father in the worst possible way must be heartbreaking as much as it was frightening, Never removing his hand from Tetsus’ arm, he gave the occasional squeeze when Tetsu seemed to almost lose himself in his dreadful memories. 

Once he’d finished explaining everything that had led up to the events earlier that day, Kuroko’s voice finally cracked, eyes glazing slightly as he blinked rapidly, looking down and drawing in a large breath.

“I know, _I know_ what he’s doing isn’t right. People b-break up all the time and this kind of thing doesn’t happen but, he loved her, you know?” He said, his voice a pathetic whimper, almost pleading for his two best friends to understand, “He loved her so much and he couldn’t do anything to stop her going and he’s scared. He’s scared of losing everything, me included. He doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore, he’s not my dad, he’s been completely blindsided by grief. He needs help.”

He looked up at Aomine, already knowing that Kagami would eventually agree with him without much persuasion. 

“Please, Aomine-kun. You can’t hurt him anymore. We’ve both been hurt enough, don’t you think? Someone needs to help him, just like you and Kagami-kun have helped me.”

Aomine’s brows furrowed deeply and he went to open his mouth to explain that, no, Kuroko’s father needed to pay for all of the disgusting punishments he’d given his son. He needed to rot in prison, or in a hospital with several broken bones, Aomine wasn’t too picky about the details. However, Kagami moved his arm around Kuroko, pulling the small boy tightly into his embrace and interrupted Aomine before he had even managed to say anything.

“Just give it a rest for now, would you? We can talk about this tomorrow once Kuroko has had a chance to sleep, he must be shattered. Right Kuroko?” Kagami asked, giving the boy a gentle squeeze. 

They both managed to see the slight nod of Kuroko’s head from within Kagami’s large arms and Kagami raised his gaze up to Aomine.

“Can you go and grab the packet of pills on the side in the kitchen? Kuroko can have two more and then he can get some rest.”

Nodding, Aomine made his way to the kitchen, turning his head once he’d reached the doorway and looking back at the two boys. Kagami was gently running his large hands up and down Kuroko’s thin, pale arms, whispering quietly into his hair as he put his face into the blue tresses. Aomine shook his head at what was probably the most nauseatingly adorable display of affection he’d seen in a while as he turned and grabbed the pills. 

In the short time it had taken for him to get the packet, Kuroko was well on his way to being asleep and they almost had to force the tablets down him before he managed to drift off. 

It took less than a couple of minutes before the sounds of his gentle, even breathing indicated that he’d nodded off and Aomine looked up at Kagami, an eyebrow quirked up as he swept his gaze obviously over Kuroko’s intimate position within Kagami’s arms. 

The teasing remark that played on his lips disappeared before forming though, once he saw a peek of the bandages showing at the bottom of the small boys t-shirt. Looking back up at Kagami, he felt his throat constrict slightly as he spoke.

“I don’t understand,” He managed to croak out around the enlarged lump restricting his throat, “I know he explained it all and everything, but I just don’t get it. He’s…he’s like a freakin’ puppy. I just…what do we do? We can’t let him go back there, not ever. If it was up to me, I’d kill his dad and just bring Tetsu to my house, my mum wouldn’t care, she’s always loved the kid, but he’d probably kill me himself before I’d even managed to pack his bags.”

Sweeping his eyes down to the sleeping form wrapped tightly in his arms, Kagami sighed heavily.

“I don’t know, Aomine. He can stay here as long as he wants. My old man won’t mind and I’ve got a spare room that he can take, we’ve only got a year before he’ll probably leave for Uni anyway, so that’s not my main concern. Just…what the hell are we supposed to do about his dad? For once, I agree with you. I’d more than happily beat the crap out of him, but… I dunno.”

His eyes looked strained as he tried to gather his wayward thoughts.

“If we go to the cops or something, they’ll call social services won’t they? I don’t really know how it works in Japan, but in the US Kuroko would be taken away and probably put into a shared house or something until he was 18. We can’t let that happen, they’d eat him alive in a place like that, but how the hell are we supposed to sort out his dad and everything without getting the police involved?”

“Well, can’t we just find his mum? I mean, I know she left and everything, but I doubt she’d stay away if she knew the shit that Tetsu was going through, right?” Aomine said, though his hesitant doubt was evident in the slight downturn of his lips.

“Well, you’d think, yeah.” Kagami agreed, absentmindedly running his hand up and down Kuroko’s arm as he spoke. “But then, how the hell do we find her? Kuroko said he’d already tried calling her and everything, and she didn’t leave any other contact information.” 

Aomine furrowed his brows in concentration, he was rubbish at using computers so the likelihood of him being able to find her online was slim. Did people still have their names in the phone book? Would she even _be_ in the phone book? He wasn’t even entirely sure what her full name was. 

Worrying his lip between two teeth he kept coming back to the same conclusion, neither he nor Kagami were likely able to do anything themselves, both just as useless as each other when it came to technology and anything that took more than a little concentration, but they had plenty of people they knew who would be more than able, and more than willing, to help Kuroko should they ask.

“Akashi.”

Kagami visibly blanched as the words left Aomine’s mouth. 

“ _Akashi_? What the hell do we want to get that psycho involved for?” He almost shouted, wincing slightly as Kuroko shifted in his embrace. Doing a poor job at a controlled whisper he continued, “I thought you hated the guy!”

“I do hate the guy, hell, I hate it as much as you do, the guy does my head in, but it doesn’t change the fact that Akashi would be more than capable of sorting all of this out himself, and he’s been itching to do something for Tetsu since the Winter Cup. I’m pretty sure he’ll be more than happy to help out, and hey, he might not even try to slice your face open this time. No guarantees though, when he finds out we let this whole mess go on as long as it has.”

Scowling, Kagami mulled it over. It was true that Akashi had kept in contact with Kuroko since the Winter Cup, exchanging texts and even meeting up once or twice, but he couldn’t be completely sure that Kuroko would want to involve anyone else, especially not someone like Akashi. 

“This will have to wait until tomorrow, Aomine. We need to check with Kuroko that this is ok. Telling Akashi, I mean.”

Aomine, face straining slightly, replied.

“Look, you know as well as I do that Tetsu won’t agree to us telling Akashi. Hell, he’ll probably be completely against looking for his mum altogether, won’t want to worry her or something knowing him. I’m gonna call Akashi tonight, at least it gives him a bit more time to find her.”

Kagami didn’t look pleased, but he agreed nonetheless, hardly wanting to disturb the slumbering form in his arms with the inevitable argument that would break out should be voice his objections. 

Aomine leant forward, arm stretching round to retrieve his phone from his back pocket with hard willed determination, he found Akashi’s contact number and lifted the phone to his ear, his face set in his usual frown. Barely two rings later and Aomine heard the soft tones of his former captain on the other end of the line.

“Daiki, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Er, yeah, hi, Akashi.” He fumbled out, “I’m just gonna put you on loud speaker, I’ve got Kagami here with me.”

“Taiga? Why are the two of you together?” He asked, voice showing his mild curiosity.

“Ha, well, this is…this is about Tetsu, he-”

“Tetsuya? What do you mean Daiki?” He asked, voice hard, dripping authority.

“Jeese, don’t interrupt me and I’ll tell you,” Aomine let out in a huff, his usual snark coming out despite his feelings towards the situation. “It’s his dad, well his mum too I suppose. She left a couple months ago, ran off with some other bloke apparently, and Tetsu’s dad has been cut up about it-“

“And why, pray tell, would you feel the need to disturb me with such trifling matters, Daiki? I am rather busy at the minute.” Akashi interrupted again, slight annoyance evident in his tone.

Aomine’s irritation bubbled over at the other boys near dismissal and flustered slightly, his words coming out quicker than he first intended. 

“Jesus _Christ_ , Akashi. His dad’s gone fucking postal. Been beating him up for the last couple of months, he’s a fucking mess. Kagami and I got a call from him this afternoon begging us to save him and when we got there…when we got there his dad was beating him. His dad's been _whipping him_ for Christ’s sake!”

Aomine, barely able to stop his chest from heaving, heard Akashi take in a large, shuddering breath. He would have been surprised at Akashi’s reaction had he not been trying to calm his own erratic breathing. 

“ _What?_ ” His voice hard, Akashi spat the word out as if it pained him to do so and Aomine felt himself shudder, already knowing that a golden eye was flashing on the other end of the line.

“You’ve gotta help, Akashi. We…Kagami and I, we don’t know what to do.” Aomine felt defeated as he looked up at Kagami, whose face was almost a mirror image of his own. 

Silence rang on the other end of the phone as Akashi gathered his thoughts. His blood was boiling and he could feel a rage inside him that he hadn’t felt since the end of the Winter Cup. 

_How dare they. How dare someone hurt Tetsuya._

He hadn’t realised he’d spoken out loud until he heard Aomine agreeing on the other end of the line. 

“I know, Akashi.” He said, voice uncharacteristically quiet. “He’s a mess. His back is torn to shreds, He looks like he’s barely been sleeping, barely eating. I’ve not seen him like this since…since the Teiko days.”

Akashi knew when he meant. The last few months they’d played together, when they thought less of each other and the game they loved playing and more about themselves, about the new powers they had gained. Tetsuya had been a state, slowly watching his team and by extension his life, slowly spiraling out of control. It was something that Akashi had thought of plenty in the few years since then, especially since he’d come back to himself and, though he was loath to admit it, the guilt of what they’d managed to do to their friend set a heavy stone of guilt in his chest and stomach whenever his mind wandered back to those days. 

To think that Tetsuya was like that again, to think that someone else had managed to break him apart as they had back then, caused his blood to ice over, so cold his veins burned hot. 

“Where is he? Where is Tetsuya? I wish to speak with him.” He managed to say, his voice calm, masking the rage and fury that bubbled away under the surface.

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea Akashi,” Aomine replied almost hesitantly. “We’ve finally managed to get him asleep and I’m not too keen to wake him up, God only knows the last time the kid managed to get a decent night’s sleep.”

Akashi pondered it for only a minute before agreeing with his old teammate. 

“Alright.” Akashi said, his thoughts still spiralling as he decided the best course of action. “His mother then. You said she had left? Do we have any idea where she’s gone?”

“Er, no. That’s kind of why we called. We were thinking maybe, if you could find her, you’d be able to bring her back or somethin’. Pretty sure she’d come back if she realized what Tetsu’s dad was doing to him.” 

Akashi hummed slightly, already moving to his bedroom to locate his laptop, firing it up as soon as he found it. His fingers tapped quickly over the keys as he set about locating the Kuroko’s contact information, hoping to find Tetsu’s mothers’ name to aid him in his search.

“I’ll find her.” He said confidently, already seeing the information he needed to start his search. “I estimate it’ll take a couple of hours to find her, I’ll be in contact in the morning with the relevant information. I shall speak with her and explain the details and sort out transportation to bring her to you if necessary.” 

Aomine’s mind reeled slightly as he took in the information. Akashi worked _fast_. Though why he thought it would happen otherwise was beyond him. 

“Right, well. Just let us know ok? Ring me, or Kagami – you’ve got his number right?”

“I do. I’ll speak with you both shortly.” Akashi said, his cool demeanor returning now he had a job to do. “Give Tetsuya my best once he wakes up.”  
With that, Aomine heard the tell-tale beeps of his phone letting him know Akashi had ended the call and let out a shuddering breath.

“Doesn’t mess about does he?” Kagami said quietly, his gaze not leaving the sleeping boy in his arms. “’Spose it wasn’t such a bad idea, calling him. Guess you can be right sometimes Ahomine.” 

“Shut up, idiot.” Aomine replied, his eyes rolling slightly at their overused insults, neither as harsh as what they usually are in light of the situation.

“You reckion he’ll be able to find her?” Kagami asked, his eyes flickering up to Aomine briefly before returning to Kuroko.

“Yeah, guy’s a psycho. Ask him to kill a man and he’d probably be able to find a way of doing it, without getting caught, within about twenty minutes.” Aomine said with an amused huff.

“Mm, that’s what I’m worried about. I know you said you could kill the guy, but I know Kuroko would never speak with you again if you ever hurt his dad. I don’t really think that would bother Akashi, he’d do it anyway.”

“You’re probably right.” Aomine agreed, shifting slightly in his seat, the exhaustion of what had happened that day finally settling on him as he got comfortable. “You gonna get him to bed or what? He’ll probably get neck ache lying like that all night.”

Kagami flushed at the mention of getting Kuroko into his bed, but managed to keep the spluttering to a minimum before getting up, Kuroko still tightly held in his embrace, and made his way to his bedroom. 

“Come and get me if Akashi calls.” He said before leaving the room, hearing a slight grunt of confirmation come from the tanned boy taking over his sofa. “There’s blankets in the cupboard in the hallway if you want them.”

He heard a soft snore in reply and, shaking his head, continued on his way.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for choosing to read my very first (attempt) at fanfiction. I'm not entirely sure if this is any good, but I thought I might as well give it a go! Please let me know what you think. Thank you very much!


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